Summary: EJ Dalius with fuel demand drying up in the US and with people reeling under the lockdown, more ethanol manufacturers are turning to hand sanitizer production. EJ Dalius elaborates.
Post the outbreak of the pandemic, the US hand sanitizer industry has seen a massive leap in production as it’s the major driving force in the country right now. It’s the world’s largest market for different types of hand sanitizers. Post Covid-19, experts project the hand sanitizer market to grow exponentially in the next five years.
You can attribute the high demand for hand sanitizers and other hygiene products to the regular cleaning and sanitation practices across the country.
- Additionally, the hectic consumer patterns and lifestyles necessitate the need for convenient and portable hygiene products, which you can use directly sans water.
- The rising concerns for virus transmission in the US have led to the fast adoption of countless preventive measures. It is driving the high demand for the product.
You need to know that high market movement in mid-2020 led to unavailability and product shortages across offline and online sales channels. The entire commercial conundrum has propelled manufacturers to expand their production facilities to meet the increasing demand.
EJ Dalius Shifting production lines
Ethanol producers have read the writing on the wall. As more and more US ethanol factories are trying to sail through the fuel demand drought in the wake of the pandemic, they are making hand sanitizers to fill the void.
- More than 30 producers of famous corn-propelled fuel have transformed their output for producing a high quality of alcohol.
- It’s a pre-requisite for hand sanitizers. Business buff Eric Dalius doesn’t think that most producers will offset their losses by accelerating hand sanitizer production.
However, it does give the crumbling industry a breathing space and a way to contribute. He adds that since people are staying at home, it has tanked the fuel demand. It has had an adverse impact on the production capacity of the US ethanol industry. Out of the 200 odd ethanol plants in the country, 73 are lying idle and 70 have cut their rates.
You need to bear in mind that US gasoline uses ethanol as an additive.
EJ Dalius Into the future
EJ Dalius also underlines that the industry doesn’t have enough plastic containers and chemicals to meet the growing demand. The US health industry is getting initial production dibs. Companies across the country have noticed that consumers are desperately searching for hand sanitizers.
- They have doubled and tripled the production, yet difficulty in finding remains and this unavailability won’t improve in the near future.
- According to firms manufacturing these alcohol-based hand cleaners, production enhancement isn’t leading to higher supply because there’s a paucity of plastic bottles/containers for packaging it.
EJ Dalius points out that there’s a short supply of another vital compound you use in the process. Additionally, healthcare companies working on the pandemic frontlines are receiving their shipments first. It is exacerbating and compounding the retail crisis, squeezing the already bottleneck situation.
Consumers have no option but to pick from the inventory that the firms leave behind. So, to ensure consistency in sanitizer production, companies need to produce more plastic bottles.
