Alcohol gel missing: industry sees 'abrupt demand' and asks for 45 days

Abihpec (Brazilian Association of The Personal Hygiene, Perfumery and Cosmetics Industry) said that the lack of alcohol gel in the market is related to the "abrupt" increase in demand. Also according to the entity, manufacturers are also struggling to obtain one of the raw materials, carbopol, which gives texture to alcohol gel. "The product is missing worldwide in the face of the global coronavirus crisis. It is important to mention that Brazil does not manufacture this ingredient, Brazil imports, which makes access even more difficult." To Metro Jornal, Abihpec said that the government put the alcohol gel in "notification regime", which allows the product to be sold by manufacturers without approval from Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agencies), which should increase the supply. "Our estimate is that in the next 45 days the market will be normalized." SECTORS TRY TO SUPPLY DEMAND It's not just consumers who are having trouble finding alcohol gel. Also the government is in trouble to supply hospitals, where the product is scarce. In an attempt to help, companies from other sectors joined the business. Ambev and other brewers are making alcohol gel in their units to donate to public hospitals. Natura, of perfumes and cosmetics, also announced that it will manufacture alcohol gel. The Brazilian Cachaça Institute, on the other hand, is donating 70,000 liters of 70% hydrated alcohol to the public health network of four states. Also the compounding pharmacies received temporary approval from Anvisa to be able to prepare and sell alcohol gel.