Coronavirus lockdown creates food supply shock, may get worse
Lockdown has knocked down the food supplies across the nation on the very first day. Arbitrary police and district authority action and lack of staff has created huge supply disruptions
Lockdown has knocked down the food supplies across the nation on the very first day
Arbitrary police and district authority action and lack of staff has created huge supply disruptions
And it may get worse, unless clear directions are sent down to police and district authorities
Consumers across major metro already feel the pain of a major crisis.
The availability of essential goods across offline and online channels is getting worse
35% customers were unable to buy essential goods on ecommerce platforms between March 20 and March 22
The figure shot up to 79% in the March 23-24 period.
17% of customers were unable to buy essential goods at retail stores on March 20-22
This figure went up to 32% on March 23-24.
Grofers warehouse in Faridabad was closed by local law enforcement on Wednesday
Essential items are being denied to 20,000+ households in Faridabad and Delhi every day
A senior executive of a leading ecommerce firm said,
Vegetables, were in short supply at many retail outlets across cities
And many wholesale vegetable traders plan to stop operations for a few days
Retail traders face labour shortage and market arrivals of vegetables is also falling
This will likely worsen the situation as police in many places is shutting down vendors to prevent any gathering
Fish and meat processes have already been hit. On Wednesday fish prices went up by 10-20%,
State borders are sealed, stopping the essential supplies of many items
Poultry production had halved in the past month to 40 million birds.
Now poultry feed is not available, so production can fall further.
The local governments that are not allowing transportation of poultry are the weakest link
Rajasthan, the major producer of mutton isn’t sending any supplies
Prices in metros have increased from Rs 400-500 per kg to over Rs 700 now.
Retailers are facing worse problems as they reported cases of manhandling of store staff
Several incidents of police crackdown on retail employees are also being reported
The 21 day lockdown is going to be tough on the Indian kitchens
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