MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan grocers running out of bottled water as demand soars

“Consumption exploded in one week,” Fernández explained. Photo: Sebastián Astorga

As Uruguay's water crisis continues to escalate, sales of bottled water grew threefold during the last few days as suppliers ran out of stock, it was reported in Montevideo.

Daniel Fernández, president of the Center of Retail Warehouses (grocers) and [medium size] Supermarkets of Uruguay (Centro de Almaceneros Minoristas, Baristas, Autoservicistas y Afines del Uruguay - Cambadu) said in an interview with Radio Carve that the main bottling companies of the country have not taken orders since Tuesday and that the retail stores have stock for the just rest of this week.

“Yesterday I spoke with the management of the largest producer and distributor of soft drinks -which also produces bottled water- and they told me that the day before yesterday and yesterday they were not taking any more orders because they were out of stock,” due to “a mismatch” between the high growth in demand and production and delivery capacities.

“Consumption exploded in one week, from one day to the next those of us who sold one [jerry can of water] went on to sell three, there is no one who can stand it,” Fernández told Telenoche.

“The supply chain is trying to adapt to this excessive demand, but preliminary data indicate a decrease in sales due to lack of stock in some stores, especially since last weekend,” read a study released by market analysts Id Retail. Unlike large-size supermarkets, grocers do not have the resources to store a considerable amount of water bottles.

Uruguay is going through one of the worst droughts in recent decades, which is why Presidential Secretary Álvaro Delgado announced that next week a dam will be built to maintain the current drinking water supply in the capital and its surroundings. Delgado described the situation as “the worst water deficit since records began to be kept 74 years ago.”