The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In the wake of COVID-19, aspiring bakers at home are out of yeast and other essential baking ingredients as stores have run out of them. Even cream cheese has run out.
Manager of My Mart store in Thimphu, Pema Tshering, said that since the outbreak of COVID-19, people have been purchasing the baking items a lot, and the store has run out of baking ingredients, like yeast and bread improver.
“Baking yeast has been flying off the shelves from March and April, and at the moment we don’t have a stock. We import yeast from Thailand and once the airline lifts, we will bring in and fill the shelves and make yeast available to our valuable shoppers and consumers,” he said.
He said that the store has also run out of packing boxes for cakes and pizza. This box has to be imported as there is no production for boxes in the country.
“People are coming from different places and searching for cake and pizza boxes, but we don’t have a stock at the moment. However, we are planning to bring in once the lockdown in India opens,” he said.
Inventory Manager of 8 Eleven store in Thimphu, Poonam, said that the yeast – a key baking ingredient, has been flying off the shelves as more people are getting into the home-baking trend. This has led to shortages of yeast in the market.
“We did run out of yeast for two weeks but currently the essential items are coming from India so we do have a good stock. Working from home means that many have found themselves with extra time on their hands, with people taking up hobbies to pass the time. And it appears that baking has become one of the nation’s favourite ways to keep busy as we can make out from the outgoing items from the store. This, along with depleted stocks in supermarkets, has led to a rise in demand for yeast,” she said.
She added that the products from Bangkok have run out of stock as it takes time to bring in the country, however, with the help of government some of the products have reached here but some are on the way.
