PPE stock piles up as demand dries up in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The personal protective equipment (PPE), which was flying off store shelves following the Covid-19 outbreak in March, now has no takers. Manufactures and retailers from the city say they are sitting on piles of unsold PPEs as the demand in the market has dropped to almost zero. And despite offering hefty discounts, there is rarely a willing customer showing up at their door.
Reason: Sufficient stock in hospital, who are primary buyers, coupled with the entry of too many players into the business.Many factory owners, some with no connection to the medical equipment industry, are also churning out PPEs now just to keep their machines rolling.
“As we speak, I have an inventory of 4,000 PPEs. The demand has flattened over the last few weeks,” said Srinivas Gunishetty with multiple businesses in city. As opposed to selling a minimum of 50 pieces every 10 days in March, he is now selling about 10 pieces in the same period. “And that is despite being willing to sell at wholesale rates, even if the order is small.”
A good 90 GSM PPE kit with an antimicrobial coat and seam taping — as approved by the medical fraternity — costs no less than Rs 550 to Rs 600 in the wholesale market. Retailers sell it for Rs 600 upwards.
“But even at Rs 250 to Rs 300, nobody is buying,” rued Nikhil Jain, originally a stationery dealer from Secunderabad. He started sourcing PPEs, when his primary business wasn’t making any money. “But now even this has hit a roadblock,” Jain said confessing he too has bundles of disposable PPEs ready to be sold.
Apart from too many people joining the business to make a quick buck, online portals too are adding to the competition, say local manufacturers.
“When we started making PPEs in mid-April, there weren’t too many players. We were shipping out between 220 and 320 pieces (90 GSM) every day. Now, we don’t have a single order,” said Sridher G, who turned his textile factory making casual shirts into a PPE-making unit to keep his staff employed and save his coffers from running dry.
The limited demand still trickling in is largely from hotels and private offices, dealers said.
Admitting that all government hospitals in the state are sufficiently stocked with PPES, Chandrasekhar Reddy, managing director of Telangana State Medical Services & Infrastructure Development Corporation, said that the protective equipment was bought in bulk between March and May.
“At present, we have stocks that will last us at least another 100 days. So we do not need to buy any new PPEs until then. After that, depending on the situation, we will take a call,” Reddy said.