Filipino people hoard vitamins, sales surge 10 times

Local industry organizations in the Philippines said that since Luzon (the island of the Philippines ’capital, Manila) has been blocked, Filipino consumers and pharmacies have been hoarding vitamin products, leading to a 10 times increase in sales of such products.

 

Popular products include multivitamins, vitamin D, and supplements containing at least 500 mg of vitamin C.

 

According to Janette Jakosalem, CEO of Metro Drug, a distributor of medical and supplement distributors and a director of the PHAP, the sales of popular vitamin brands have increased by 10 in the past month Times, greatly consuming the company ’s inventory, resulting in an “artificial shortage” of vitamin products. She pointed out that consumers used to buy products used in one week in the past, but now buy products used for one to two months at a time. As a distributor, pharmacies also started to reserve stocks.

 

Jacoblum said that due to the isolation measures, domestic flights and shipping were suspended, and other islands in the Philippines except Luzon also experienced similar hoarding behavior.

 

Metro Drug usually stores about 60 days of inventory in the warehouse, but due to the surge in demand, the inventory of its best-selling products can only be maintained for 30 days.

 

Since most local manufacturers produce both dietary supplements and medicines, they are considered "essential services" to continue producing supplements. However, Jacobham said that there may be a shortage of raw materials for the production of supplements, and imports are not feasible. China's logistics services still have problems, and all new coronavirus-related products in India have stopped exporting.

 

In the past few months, vitamin C has become a popular product in many countries, including Singapore and China. Metro Drug said the extended delivery time and rising freight rates have compounded the vitamin C shortage problem.