Hyderabad: Biscuits are fast selling out in the city with people mostly staying at home during the lockdown needing something to munch on. But biscuit manufacturers say they are hard-pressed to find labourers to work in the factories to increase production.
Even mom-and-pop stores say that there is a lot of demand for biscuits as they are easy to store and ready to eat. “All the shelves that have biscuits and ready-to-eat foods are selling out faster. While we are stocked up on pulses, grains and rice, ready-to-eat foods are running out faster than usual,” said Rajesh Gupta, who owns a shop near Neredmet.
Manufacturers say that there is a 30 per cent demand-supply gap as of now. “The factory workers have all taken leave or are going back to their villages. We cannot resume with such meagre staff; we would require at least 50 per cent staff in attendance,” the president of the Biscuits, Wafers and Confectionery Manufacturers’ Association, Somasuresh Kumar told Deccan Chronicle. Customers who used to buy one or two packets at a time are now buying them by the dozen, he added.
Moreover, biscuits have to be supplied to people who are in the quarantine zone, on the orders of the Hyderabad collector’s office.
“We have given away close to 1.7 lakh packets of biscuits to the GHMC. The collectors and MROs take away one lakh more packets,” he added.
