Food producers urge govt to restore supply chain

New Delhi, March 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Major manufacturers of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), food producers and suppliers have urged government to restore supply chains of essential commodities following disruption in transportation and labour shortage since the complete lockdown against coronavirus.

The government support and intervention is required to restore supply chains immediately, said Varun Berry, MD, Britania Industries.

"The food industry supply chain is disaggregated and dependent on inter-state movement of goods. Due to the nature of the materials, inventories across the chain are low. If even one link in the supply chain is broken, the country could run out of stocks of packaged food in the next 7-10 days," he said in a statement.

Food is a declared essential commodity as per the Essential Commodities Act 1955 and the food processing industry has been exempted from the work and movement restrictions.

The supply chain includes suppliers of raw materials and packaging materials, food manufacturing factories, factory workers, transporters carrying materials and finished goods, depots, wholesalers, distributors and their sales men. Necessary permits need to be immediately issued to all of them.

Grain markets in Rajasthan's Kota, Bundi and Baran were closed on Friday as as no truck was available to send grains to other states and local flour mills, said Uttam Jethwani a trader.

A top grain buyer and supplier company headquartered at Gurugram has halted its operation due to the lockdown.

Grains and agri products supplier K.K. Poddar who sends supplies to a top FMCG firm said due to the lockdown, labourers and transporters are not ready to come out of their houses and the supply chain of essential goods is disrupted. "The government and the local administration should restore it soon," he said.

Source: IANS