BHUBANESWAR: With the Middle East crisis fuelling short supply of LPG cylinders, the demand has now shifted to induction cooktops so much so that the electric cooking appliance is also fast disappearing from the markets in the capital city.
As per reports, the rush among households and small food vendors to find alternatives to cooking gas has led to a sudden surge in demand for electric cooking appliances, especially induction cooktops. Such is the demand that a random search in quick-commerce platforms is also showing the product to be ‘unavailable’ or ‘sold out’.
“Our stock got exhausted within hours of opening of the outlet as there was huge demand among customers for induction cooktops,” said a staff of a Reliance Digital store in Rasulgarh. He said while 15 to 20 units of the appliance were purchased on Wednesday, another seven units were immediately sold out on Thursday.
Deepak Jain, owner of Balajee Home Appliances at Bapuji Nagar, said he has been selling 30 to 40 induction cooktops every day for the last three or four days, following the shortage of cooking gas cylinders. He said many induction cooktop companies are witnessing a daily demand of over 100 units in the city and this sudden surge has led to an increase in price by 7 to 8 pc from the manufacturers’ side. He, however, said the demand is largely driven by panic among the people who now want to have an induction cooktop as an alternative to LPG in the time of shortage.