Try shopping for groceries these days in Metro Cebu and see how sardines, other canned goods, even sacks of rice are hard to find by noon.
A spike in the demand for basic commodities is fueled by extra shopping for relief goods for victims of supertyphoon Yolanda.
“This is temporary due to relief operations,” said Philip Tan, president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He said Cebu is a logistics hub for humanitarian aid operations for hard-hit areas in Leyte and Samar.
“We are discouraging panic buying because this will worsen the situation,” Tan said.
With the unexpected demand, the normal inventory period of 30-60 days for retail stores was consumed within just a week.
“The vacuum period depends on how fast logistics could come in because ships are also busy with relief operations,” he said.
But Cebu, being the country’s built-in hub for shipping companies with the additional advantage of having an international airport, can easily source supplies in many ways in case there’s a vacuum period, he said.
The seeming scarcity started with a specific type of rice which cost P1,400 per sack. Tan said MCCI no longer purchases rice for their relief operations because of the low supply.
“Nagkaminus na ang supply sa rice (the rice supply went down),” said Mandaue city administrator James Abadia.
He said the city’s local price monitoring council is closely watching market prices but doesn’t have control of wholesalers.
Any change in wholesalers prices can be reported to Department Trade and Industry (DTI), Abadia said.