Impact of COVID-19 on Vegetables and Fruits in Food & Beverages Industry
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the agriculture industry including the vegetables and fruits market by surging up their consumption globally. Each and every segment of vegetables & fruits industry has been impacted either positively or negatively due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vegetables and fruits market is subjected to have positive as well as negative impact due to the sudden outbreak of COVID-19. This is mainly due to the consumer awareness regarding healthy lifestyle, daily protein, and vitamin intake of plant origin. However, the disruption of supply chain of vegetables and fruits during the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the growth of the market.
The demand for organic vegetables and fruits, rising trend of adopting vegetarian food options during the pandemic, and surge in availability of vegetables and fruits on online portals has positively affected the market growth during the pandemic.
IMPACT ON DEMAND
The demand for vegetables and fruits increased during the COVID-19 pandemic owing to rising awareness amongst consumers with the benefits of vegetables and fruits nutrients, growing preference towards organic and plant-based food. Additionally, there is an increasing consciousness about health and weight management which is playing a crucial role in the demand for the global vegetable & fruits market. On an average, consumers have increased their monthly spending on vitamins, minerals, and supplements products by 10-15% since the COVID- 19 began.
Increase in the awareness among consumers about the benefits of consuming of vegetables and fruits is, such as immunity that is highly required in the COVID-19 pandemic, has positively affected the vegetable and fruits market
Therefore, there has been a constant increase in the demand for organic and healthy food, which has positively affected the vegetable and fruits market as they are good source of vitamins, folic acid, zinc, phosphorous, and other dietary supplements, which is the major factor that attracted the attention of the consumers.
PRICE IMPACT
The COVID-19 has impacted the global economy terribly. Many organizations remained shut while others scaled downed their operations or put on hold expansion plans as they survive the unpredictable crisis. Outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic resulted in nationwide lockdowns and various stringent regulations on border closing were imposed by the governments across the globe, which resulted in the spike of prices of vegetables and fruits. Import and export of vegetables were hampered due to closing of border of various nations. This resulted in increase in prices in countries which were dependent on the imports of vegetables and fruits. While the price in the major vegetable and fruits exporter countries were falling owing to the larger production than the demand. However, the ease of lockdown and various initiatives by governments to export and import vegetables and foods had resulted in the subsequent price drop. The price impact on the vegetables and fruits market was relatively dependent on the commodity specific.
IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAIN
The supply chain of vegetable and fruits market was disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was attributed by lack of resources and transportation, which led to lower access and delayed stock and supplies of vegetables and fruits products. Additionally, various governments restricted the movements of goods across the countries and the entire supply chain was distorted. Owing to the disrupted supply chain, transportation of raw materials had been interrupted and the production of vegetables and fruits was halted, along with the labor shortage and affected price. Owing to tremendous increase in demand for vegetables and fruits owing to rising health conscious population, the production products have been disrupted. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the supply chain of the global vegetables and fruits market.
CONCLUSION
COVID- 19 pandemic has taken a toll on the population and economy. A collaborative effort on governments, public health departments and hospital fraternity to fight corona virus has led to the economic slowdowns, lockdowns and extreme public safety measures. Due to the increasing health consciousness among the consumers, the demand for vegetables and fruits has been increasing constantly in the COVID–19 pandemic. This is mainly because of precautionary measures, which are followed by the consumers due to COVID-19, which involves the intake of healthy diet. However, the supply chain has been disrupted during the outbreak scenario because the demand was more for these products. As unlocking of the lockdown is initiated in various regions of the world, it is expected that the supply chain become normalized for the market.
