IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON FOOD AND BEVERAGES INDUSTRIES

Pc:- NEW FOOD MAGAZINE

This pandemic novel Coronavirus has serious effects on the respiratory system of a human being which may cause death of the person as well. Its first outbreak was in a fish market in Wuhan, China and then due to high transmission from person to person, this virus has spread across the globe. It is because of this that this disease has been declared as a pandemic and to avoid the spread, the government is taking primary precautions and suggesting the practice of social distancing to cut this chain of transmission. Many governments have imposed lockdown in their country. Indian government also imposed a lockdown, the first being imposed on 23rd March for 21 days. The lockdown had a major impact on the country's economy and it affected many sectors of the economy leading to its downfall. According to the current GDP report, India has gone down with -23% which showcases the graveness of the impact that lockdown had on India’s economy and the recession India had to face in this period. The major hits were the food and beverage industry, power industries, transportation services etc. Impact on food and beverage industry Food is included in essential commodities as per schedule 1, section 2A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1995. Recently, an amendment was made in the period of lockdown by the Central Home Minister and now essential commodities also include the food shops. [1]

The food and beverages industry includes the industries that process the raw material, supply packaged and non-packaged food products and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Before the Pandemic people used to dine out in restaurants which was a result of an inclination of Indians towards the Western Culture. But due to the pandemic people are avoiding going out and they thus are either eating home made food or they are ordering it with the help of online food delivery services. The contribution of food restaurants in the economy of the country has visibly declined and the online food delivery services are not contributing much to it. This lockdown on restaurants and bars as well has resulted in people finding different alternatives for enjoyment of weekends. This has affected the production market, non veg market and dairy products market which are the essentials of a restaurant. Amongst all, the worst hit was the market of non veg products because of the fake rumour being spread about the deadly coronavirus. Many people think that this virus is spreading due to non veg food products although the virus has got nothing to do with that. This has severely affected the sale of these products. Reason for shortage of products: ● Transportation Since transportation facilities have been affected badly because of the lockdown, the supply chain is getting affected and transportation of food products from the manufacturer to the seller and from the producer to the retailer is getting hampered. Because of this many retailers are facing shortages of many essential commodities despite many efforts taken by them. ● Migrating workers The workers working in the manufacturing units were rendered jobless due to the lockdown and they decided to head back home for food and shelter. Many workers travelled for miles on foot just to reach their hometown. Workers get daily wages for the work they do and in the absence of money many left for home which resulted in shortage of workers at work place. This as a result affected the manufacturing capacity of the manufacturers leading to shortage of food products. ● Agricultural products The lockdown was announced in the middle of the harvesting season. Many farmers do not have a granary to store their produce and hence they prefer selling it as soon as possible but because of the lockdown their produce was not sold on time which resulted in the harvest getting damaged due to various reasons and ultimately getting wasted. ● Hoarding When the lockdown was announced, many rich and able people hoarded loads of food products leading to a shortage while the poor or lower strata of people couldn’t do so leading to starvation. Many daily wage workers and people earning low income were forced to reduce their daily expenses of food products due to loss of job. Positive impact on food and beverage industry[2]

● As it is said that necessity is the origin of innovation, with the growing virus and increasing lockdown many industries have made strategic changes in their functioning so as to grow their business even during the pandemic. New products have been launched, new strategies have been formulated and new methods of advertising have been adopted. ● As many industries have come to a standstill and will be facing low times for at least 2 years, they will get an opportunity to come back with new technologies and products with the changed time and scenario. ● With the changing times, people are getting new job opportunities. Conclusion This pandemic and quarantine situation has made us realize the importance of food and the need to be more responsible in our cooking. We need to see a zero waste practice implemented in our daily kitchen routines.[3] Footnotes:- [1]https://www.mondaq.com/india/operational-impacts-and-strategy/924296/covid-19-impac t -on-food-industry [2]https://www.magzter.com/article/Technology/Food-Beverages-Processing/Impacts-Of-C o vid-19-On-The-Food-Industry [3] http://www.fao.org/in-action/food-for-cities-programme/news/detail/en/c/1272232 / References:- (a) https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/ (b) https://www.magzter.com/ (c) https://www.financialexpress.com/