PARIS - It may be all doom and gloom as the coronavirus outbreak completely upends the world we knew but pasta makers may never have had it so good as panic-stricken shoppers stock up on a basic food to survive the crisis. Scenes of mayhem in supermarkets around the world typically hone in on pasta shelves stripped bare in a matter of minutes, sending manufacturers into overdrive to try and keep up with demand. "We are now 90 percent up in our sales over the past three weeks and more recently, up more than 100 percent," Xavier Riescher, head of France's top agri-food company the Panzani group, told AFP. Riescher, who is also head of the French pasta makers industry association, said his factories normally did not operate over the weekend -- but that has all changed now and they are on the go night and day. "We are working seven days out of seven, 24 hours out of 24; there has been an exceptional mobilisation of French workers," he added. It is the same story in Italy, the badly hit epicentre of the European outbreak, where production runs non-stop at La Molisana, the country's fourth largest pasta maker. "Since the beginning of February, output is up more than 50 percent in Italy," said Michel Liquidato, sales director for the company in France. The problem now is to keep up with demand. Longer hours for the workforce are not enough on their own, Riescher said, noting that manufacturers have concentrated on making the simple forms of pasta rather than more elaborate versions. "When you make farfalle, you need twice the time you need for shell pasta because its more complex," he said. So for the industry the focus is on about 10 types of the simplest pasta such as shell, spaghetti, macaroni or penne, to reduce production time and costs. "That is true for Panzani, for Barilla, for Garofalo, which makes very up market versions. You concentrate on what you can make," Riescher added. No supply problems It is the same story for another kitchen staple rice, Riescher said, with Panzani's Winged Bull brand seeing sales soar 70 percent in the past few weeks, and couscous. But despite the pressure, he said there would be no problem with supplies. "There is always lots of stock. All the factories in France are continuing to produce and I can speak for all in the industry association on that," he said. "That is true in Italy too. Certainly there are some factories which have a few problems in the lockdown zone in the north but for the moment, they continue to produce," he added. "Despite this difficult situation, none of our sites are currently subject to lockdown measures," the Barilla group told AFP. However, some companies are finding they are having to make a choice between which customers they can serve. "We need to supply in priority the Italian market and those countries which have been clients for several years," said Liquidato. The company had only recently started sales in France, he said, adding that it had had to pass up several orders to concentrate on its established markets. Another concern is that if demand continues to increase in the coming months, will there be enough of the hard wheat needed to make pasta? "We do not see any interruption in stocks in coming weeks and we watch carefully to ensure that the logistics are in place to ensure supply to our clients," said Axereal, one of the top cereal suppliers in France. source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK - From Jersey City on the East Coast to Los Angeles on the West Coast, American shoppers picked grocery store shelves clean on products ranging from disinfectants to rice, causing retailers to race to restock their stores as the worsening coronavirus crisis stoked fears of shortages. As shoppers swarmed stores, President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon declared a national emergency aimed at slowing the spread of the novel virus, which has killed at least 47 people in the United States. Daily routines have been upended as businesses including Amazon.com urge employees to work from home, schools and universities close, and sporting events and church services are paused across the country. In response to the run on certain items, major retailers have imposed some purchase limits. The chief executive of Walmart Inc, Doug McMillon, at a news conference with Trump on Friday, said the retailer was having trouble keeping up with demand for products like hand sanitizer Purell, cleaning supplies and paper goods. "Hand sanitizer is going to be very difficult to have 100% in stock for some time," McMillon said. "We're still replenishing it... but as soon as it hits the stores it's going. The same thing is true for the other categories I mentioned." In Hanover, New Jersey, about 40 customers had lined up to get into a Wegmans grocery store before it opened on Friday morning. A few hours later, shelves were stripped bare of sanitizing wipes, bulk rice and dried beans. The store posted signs announcing limits on the purchase of hand sanitizer and bottled water. "An abundance of caution - semper paratus, like the Coast Guard motto that means 'always ready,'" shopper Marlene Russell, 69, told a reporter after packing groceries into her car. At a Fairway Market on Manhattan's Upper West Side, shelves normally full of pasta, Oreo cookies, pasta sauce, crackers and toilet paper were depleted on Thursday evening. On the West Coast, grocery stores including Ralphs, Pavilions and Trader Joe's had sold out of products ranging from eggs to Lysol cleaning wipes. RETAILERS REACT Johnson & Johnson is accelerating production of over-the-counter pain killer Tylenol to ease any spot inventory crunches. J&J, which also makes Listerine mouthwash, said it was shipping stocks of products in a controlled manner. It was increasing production of other consumer products to ensure retailers were well supplied, it said, adding it did not expect any shortages. Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and supermarket chain Kroger Co instituted purchase limits to stabilize inventory. Kroger, the largest US grocery store operator, limited the number of cold, flu and sanitary products per visit, while Walgreens said it was limiting disinfectant wipes and cleaners, face masks, hand sanitizers, thermometers and gloves to 4 per customer. John Terry, 33, went to a Whole Foods in Manhattan to pick up chicken and other items his wife was unable to get at grocery stores near their Jersey City home, in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Manhattan. "It was insanity," he said about his local stores. "She went to Costco and there was a line down the block. At another one, the shelves were picked clean." Phil Lempert, editor of SupermarketGuru, said labor shortages due to everything from school closures to illness could cause business disruptions that last several months. "It's a lot more than stockpiling toilet paper or Purell. This is going to have implications on our food supply and supply chain for months to come," Lempert said. source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Shelves are being stripped bare of toilet rolls, hand sanitizer and surgical masks everywhere from Japan to France to the United States as panic buying criss-crosses the globe with the coronavirus, defying repeated calls for calm and disrupting supply chains. Obsessively documented on social media, scrambles to the shops and empty shelves are adding panic and confusion to the fight against an epidemic that has killed thousands, placed millions under quarantine and battered global markets. Australia's biggest supermarket this week began rationing sales of toilet paper after police had to be called to a shop in Sydney when a knife was drawn in a scuffle over the scarce commodity. On Saturday Japan's prime minister took to Twitter to calm fears of a national shortage, while social media photos from the US show toilet paper shelves lying bare. Psychologists say a mix of herd mentality and over-exposure to coverage of the virus is to blame. "We might be less irrational if we weren't being reminded so much of the potential dangers by the news," London-based consumer psychologist Kate Nightingale told AFP. "We either avoid the topic or we go completely nuts and stock up on anything we might just need." Panic buying of non-medical items like toilet paper "gives people this sense of control that 'I will have what I need when I want'," Andy Yap, a psychologist and Charlene Chen, who specializes in marketing and business in Singapore told AFP in an email. The city-state experienced its own recent run on toilet paper, traceable, they said to a "believable" rumor of an impending shortage due to shutdowns in virus-stricken China, a major producer. Endlessly scrolling through social media also "distorts our perceptions and makes us think that things are a lot more serious than they truly are," they said. As the uncertainty grows, they added, items such as surgical masks and hand sanitizer transform into "problem-solving goods... that seemingly help people gain control over the virus." 'THE ODD ONE OUT' Single-use surgical masks that typically retail for just a few US cents are also hot property, exacerbated by restrictions on exports from China, the leading producer, as the government keeps more back for domestic usage. Last month ten thousand people queued outside a Hong Kong shop that had secured a shipment, and days later masks were voted the most desirable gifts to receive for Valentine's Day. In London, masks are now going for more than 100 times their normal retail price, while French authorities said they will requisition all face mask stocks and production. The demand is being "driven by panic buying, stockpiling and speculation," World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told AFP. This is despite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying it did not "recommend the use of facemasks" to help combat the outbreak. But in crowded, paranoid cities where others are already wearing them, donning a mask can be comforting -- if ineffective. "You don't want to be the odd one out," Nightingale said. "At the end of the day, we do need our social groups for survival so it's a primal instinct to obey whatever needs that society imposes on us." 'TRUSTED FACES' As more countries report new cases, Yap and Chen said it was important for authorities to "re-establish control" over information and rumors that spark hoarding and panic-buying. "In times of uncertainty, it is good to set rules because rules provide a sense of order and control." Governments also need to be clear in explaining any new rules and why they are important in the fight against the virus. But, Nightingale said, with distrust of health authorities on the rise in the West over mandatory vaccinations and with governments and companies "among the least trusted institutions," this might be difficult. "Hiring trusted faces could help... David Attenborough might work for a certain kind of customer profile, like the over 40s. For younger profiles, you could turn to social media influencers." Agence France-Presse
