Just days before today’s opening at the Providence Stadium of the third staging of the UNCAPPED product promotion event, one of the prime movers behind its original conceptualization, Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association, Vice President and Chairman of its agro-processing sub-sector, Ramsay Ali, told the Stabroek Business that plans to advance the development of agro processing locally had been significantly derailed by developments arising out of the intervention of the covid-19 pandemic.
“The reality is that COVID-19 has had a considerable negative impact on the sector in various ways. First, we experienced significant decreases in sales at all levels. Secondly, the disruption of the supply chain impacted on the ability of manufacturers to secure packaging materials. The disruption of the supply chain also resulted in increased costs of raw materials ranging in some instances from 30% to 50%,” Ali told the Stabroek Business. He said that he was aware of one instance in which the cost of packaging material had increased by 100%, a circumstance which meant that the manufacturer could not afford the cost of purchasing the bottles from China.