By Madelaine B. Miraflor
Meat processors yesterday assured the public of stable supply of canned meat products and advised consumers against panic buying and hoarding.
This developed as Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez signed Memorandum Circular No. 20-06 ensuring unhampered movement of cargo and transit of personnel of business establishments during the entire Luzon-wide lockdown.
Lopez stressed that all food and non-food inputs of manufacturers must pass through checkpoints unhampered. “We have a DTI pass system for cargoes to further facilitate the flow of goods,” said Lopez.
The supply of processed food products in Luzon may face a potential shortage with the delays in the delivery of their raw and packaging materials, a situation that started immediately after the government had set up quarantine checkpoints in some of National Capital Region’s
Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) Vice-President Jerome D. Ong said the canned meat manufacturers currently have inventory level that is good for 60 days based on normal demand. He added that the plants have about 30 days inventory plus another 15-30 days inventory with the distributors and the retailers. He said what will deplete stocks faster is the tendency of some people to hoard.
Ong, who is also the president of Foodsphere Inc., lauded the efforts of the national government to make sure that basic necessities, especially food, continues to be accessible to consumers.