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

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NH Web Desk

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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