Page 233 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Retail Business Environment

Notes products with special temperature requirements. For example, onions are available year round
because they are stored in such warehouses and released to the market based on demand.
Onions must be cured and stored at an optimum temperature of 0°C with 65-70 percent relative
humidity.
Beyond consistently meeting high standards for product quality and safety, these warehouses
must also possess the efficiency and reliability. Energy is a major contributor to the cost of
business, and the prospect of power price hikes can heighten the pressure on the profit margin.
There are also issues of environmental regulation, equipment flexibility, and logistics
management to deal with. Even a minor change in consumer’s eating habits such as the advent
of in-store take-out and heat-and-serve products can create a ripple affecting the refrigerated
food supply chain.
Unfortunately, the nature of refrigeration systems makes it difficult to implement wholesale
changes. The standard operating procedures and process hazard analyses need to be undertaken
regularly. Planning on a long term basis and partnerships with equipment manufacturers is
increasing in importance. Many such warehouses work with professional service providers for
solutions with regard to preventive maintenance, special lubrication systems and filtration,
consistent chemical water treatment, etc.
Commodity warehouses: These are designed to handle bulk material such as wheat, rice, sugar,
lentils, cotton, edible beans, and milk etc. Non-food commodities include jute, fertilizers, tires
wood pulp, tobacco, etc. Some commodities can also be in liquid form, this includes most
petroleum products as well as many chemicals.
Due to the diverse nature of commodities, many commodity items require special handling or
storage considerations, such as grain storage warehouses may require elevators, liquid
commodities may require tank farms, and a commodity like tobacco requires a barn.

Did u know? In India most agricultural commodities are handled by the Central and State
Warehousing Corporations?
Bonded warehouses: These warehouses are licensed by the government to store goods prior to
payment of taxes or duties. The facility of warehousing of imported goods in Customs Bonded
Warehouses, without payment of Customs duty otherwise leviable on import, is permitted
under the Customs Act, 1962. Basically, goods after landing are permitted to be removed to a
warehouse without payment of duty and duty is collected at the time of clearance from the
warehouse. The law lays down the time period up to which the goods may remain in a warehouse,
without incurring any interest liability and with interest liability.
Public Warehousing

The Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) was set up in 1957 under the Agricultural Produce
Development and Warehousing Corporations Act, 1956. Functions of CWC under the provisions
of the Act are:

(a) Acquire and build godowns and warehouses at such suitable places in India as it thinks fit;
(b) Run warehouses for the storage of agricultural produce, seeds, manures, fertilizers,
agricultural implements and notified commodities offered by individuals, cooperative
societies and other institutions;
(c) Arrange facilities for the transport of agricultural produce, seeds, manures, fertilizers,
agricultural implements and notified commodities to and from warehouses;

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