Coronavirus impact | Demand for flour, baking soda spikes as India cranks up the oven

Bread, cake or a pie? Maybe all of them. 

The lockdown is making bakers out of Indians and supermarkets are struggling to keep up with this new-found passion as they see flour, butter, baking soda, yeast and other ingredients fly off the shelves.  

The wafting aroma of a chocolate cake or a loaf of whole-grain bread fresh out of the oven seems to be a source of comfort in times of the coronavirus pandemic that has forced 1.3 billion people inside for almost three months now.

“Every week we have to replenish the stock of baking products. They are in great demand since the lockdown started,” said a store manager at a Reliance Fresh outlet in Mumbai’s Pedder Road.

Social media offers a sneak peek into the baking craze. There is a flood of posts of the latest baking adventures.

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Someone is indulging the sweet tooth with a decadent cake, another is taking baby steps towards three-ingredient mug cake, yet another one has finally mastered the art of the buttery croissant, which is celebrated with what else but a home-made dessert.

Consumer companies like Tata, which makes baking soda, and Cadbury, one of the leading makers of cocoa powder, have seen an almost 60 percent rise in the sale of these products since the lockdown when compared to last year. 

Google search trends reveal that since the end of March, when India went into lockdown, there has been a spike in searches for cake and bread recipes and supermarkets vouch for it.

The rush has made customers brand agnostic. “It is just that customers want a particular bakery product, irrespective of the brand,” a Godrej Nature’s Basket store manager in Mumbai added.

What India is seeing has already happened in other parts of the world. There have been reports of stores in the UK and the US running out of flour and other basic baking ingredients. It should not come as a surprise because bread is a staple for them.  

Experts say the coronavirus outbreak has made people cautious. They are avoiding outside food and prefer to cook at home.

People also have more time at hand and baking is a good way to keep busy and break the monotony of the day. Baking is an activity that can engage children, who have been cooped up for weeks, and they can learn something new.  

“I am craving a chocolate cake but I visited three stores in my area and none have cocoa powder or coconut sugar,” said Mumbai resident Anisha Khanna.

A recent Google report on “What India is searching for” shows a 56 percent increase in searches for “5-minute recipes” on the internet.

Baking is more time consuming but no one seems to be complaining.