Photo: VCG

Chinese society recently fell in love with baking to satisfy appetites and taste buds as bakeries and restaurants remain closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, yeast-related products necessary to bake cakes, bread, and buns, are reportedly running out. 

As the Chinese spend most of their time at home, they’ve come up with creative ways to help pass the time, and one of them involves cooking. On Chinese social media platform Weibo, words such as cake, hotpot, and rice noodles are trending.

Weibo users upload photos of their homemade cakes and bread to determine whose “masterpiece” is the best.

This latest home cooking endeavor has created a rising demand for yeast. E-commerce platform JD.com recently sold out of yeast-related products, but other market platforms have replenished their supplies.

Additionally, supermarkets and grocery stores in Shenzhen and Dongguan, in South China’s Guangdong Province, have also reportedly sold out of yeast products, according to Chinese news platform Cailianpress.com. 

As the only listed company in the yeast sector, Anqi Yeast has gained significant public attention. On the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s investor platform, people have inquired whether the company’s manufacturing output has been impacted, with some offering ideas to increase production.  

Company representatives said production had been partially resumed in Yichang, Central China’s Hubei Province, the virus outbreak’s epicenter, in mid-February. But due to disrupted logistics, product supply has been affected, the company also said.