• The survey found that the pandemic is affecting packaging businesses in several ways.
    The survey found that the pandemic is affecting packaging businesses in several ways.
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Businesses around the world are gearing up to confront the period of uncertainty and difficulty that the coronavirus pandemic has brought.

In response to the pandemic, Pact Group has implemented screening protocols and questionnaires for all personnel and visitors entering company facilities. In a letter to customers, Pact Group managing director and group CEO Sanjay Dayal said the company would also introduce temperature testing of all personnel entering company facilities.

“We have been testing and revising all of our business contingency plans, by site and by product, to ensure that in the event there is a site closure, the disruption to any of our customers is minimised to the fullest extent possible,” Dayal wrote.

“As a supplier of essential goods and services for a number of critical industries, we are liaising with government to ensure that we remain fully operational during this difficult period.”

Dayal said the parts of the business involved in the supply of hygiene and cleaning products and goods and services to the grocery market had been responding to heightened demand.

“This has required us to divert some of our resources to these areas to ensure we are meeting the expectations of the community and the government,” he wrote.

As a result of this, Dayal wrote that there may be “impact to delivery times”.

The CEO’s letter noted that there had been no reported cases of Covid-19 at the company, as of 23 March.

Pact Group has also switched some of its production capacity to making hand sanitiser, in repsonse to an uptick in demand for the product.

Food & Drink Business

Good Drinks Australia has reported an 18 per cent lift in sales volume to 7.5 million litres for the first quarter of FY27, with own brand volumes up 25 per cent to 4.6 million litres and Matso’s up 71 per cent.

Bega Group has taken its Dairy Farmers brand into ready-to-drink meal replacement and added creatine and collagen to its protein smoothie range, as consumer research shows snacks displacing sit-down meals.

The latest report from RaboResearch has found impact from the Reserve Bank’s fifth interest rate rise this year on the food and beverage sector is weakening demand, raising input costs and splintering food inflation by category.