DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez
MANILA – Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez has assured that the country has an adequate supply of food even with the extension of enhanced community quarantine that will last until April 30.
In Laging Handa public briefing Wednesday, Lopez said food manufacturers have 45-day inventory and raw materials for their products are still available.
He added that food manufacturers also ramp up their production capacity from 80 percent to 90 percent after the DTI issued a new policy that factories of essential goods can operate beyond 50 percent of its workforce.
He recalled that the department earlier ordered companies to operate only up to 50 percent of their workforce, which created a temporary shortage of supplies due to a limited workforce amid the Luzon-wide quarantine that started March 17.
The logistics challenges also slowed down the distribution of supplies to the market with the strict measures at checkpoints during the first few weeks of the enhanced community quarantine, he added.
The trade chief said the improvement in cargo movement and allowing manufacturers to operate more than 50 percent of their workforce has eased the temporary shortage.
“So for the supply of food, we don’t have a problem,” Lopez said in Filipino. "We can now catch up with the temporary shortage."
He added that there is no increase in suggested retail prices (SRPs) of products, including alcohol, even if the demand surged due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak.
Lopez said an alcohol manufacturer told DTI that the demand for the product in the first two months of 2020 is equivalent to the demand for the whole year of 2019.
But he added that these manufacturers are giving a big allocation of their output for the domestic market. (PNA)
