GLASS HALF-EMPTY
Manufacturers fear breaking point as shortage could trigger packaging crisis
THERE ARE concerns that a COVID-19-induced global shortage of glass bottles and jars could leave local companies which use these containers to package products for the local and export markets with a lot of produce but very little to put them in.
Andrew Gray, managing director of Gray’s Pepper Products in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, told The Gleaner that his company usually imports roughly seventy 40-ft containers of glass bottles per year for his line of meat and fish sauces, jerk seasoning and hot pepper sauce.
His company usually sources bottles out of South and Central America, but these suppliers are now allocating even regular customers a limited number of bottles. He is concerned that local manufacturers may soon be forced to source bottles from further away at greater shipping costs, putting a crimp into any business expansion plans.
Gray said his company has pulled back on its appetite for new clientele and markets lest it spiral a distribution crisis with too many customers for too few products.
He said his supplier is allocating only fraction of Gray’s requisitions, forcing the Westmoreland manufacturer to tap markets in Egypt and Oman for bottles to close the shortfall. The equation will be complicated by higher prices because of increased freight costs and longer transit times.
The shortage could continue into 2022 as Gray’s regular supplier moves to expand capacity by adding another furnace, which will take a year to construct.
“... We have to give them orders a year to a year and a half in advance. So usually, for the end of the year, we would order bottles in November, but now they are asking you to order bottles for December 2022 delivery in December 2021 to get it in time,” Gray said, adding that he is still awaiting confirmation on a consignment ordered in May.
“A lot of people not looking long term, but I am. If we don’t have bottles, we can have produce and don’t have anything to put it in, so it can have some serious implications,” the managing director told The Gleaner.
News outlets around the world have been reporting on the global shortage which has impacted several industries and products – from blood vials to beer bottles – citing factory closures, issues sourcing sand to make the glass and international tariffs and COVID-19 impacting production and shipping. Added to that is the increased demand for glass to make vials for COVID-19 vaccines.
Salada Foods Jamaica Limited, which operates the largest coffee-processing plant in Jamaica, told The Gleaner that it has also been affected.
The majority of Salada’s supply of jars comes out of South America and Costa Rica, and that supplier has now advised that the lead time is one year, General Manager Dianna Blake Bennett said.
Salada uses a second supplier out of China, which comes with its own challenges. Those logistics have a lead time of six months. The coffee manufacturer is also faced with significant increases in shipping costs, which have moved from US$3,000 per container to US$15,000 per container.
“We have been fortunate, in that we have pretty much saw it coming and so have increased our inventory of jars,” Blake Bennett said.
“I don’t think any business can – Salada certainly can’t – continue to absorb these levels of increases. So there is going to be a price increase, but as to what that translates to in the short term, I can’t at this time disclose.”