Consumer staple companies such as LT Foods, GRM Overseas, and Tirupati Agritrade are stocking more than usual and asking their distributors to keep stocks of 25 days to ensure uninterrupted supplies amid slow progress of the monsoon and reports of El Nino.

These companies are also taking steps to ensure water supply to their contract farmers in case of a shortage in rainfall, so that their supply line is not disrupted, industry officials said.

“We are not sure if the monsoon will be good or not,” said Suraj Agarwal, CEO of Tirupati Agritrade that sells and markets non-basmati rice under the RiceVilla brand.

“We have asked our distributors to keep a stock of 25 days instead of 15 days,” he said. “We are also asking our consumers to buy larger packs of 26 kg of rice instead of 10 kg.”