In a drastic move aimed at tackling chronic shortages, the Venezuelan government has ordered companies to distribute food staples to a network of state-run grocery stores, the Associated Press said, based on reports by a local food industry group.

Producers of milk, pasta, oil, rice, sugar and flour are now required to supply between 30 percent and 100 percent of their supplies to such outlets, even though there are 15 times as many private stores as state-run supermarkets, the Food Industry Chamber said. Pablo Baraybar, the group's president, warned that the move could cause major distribution problems.

"More than 80 percent of the products that are currently available (at state-run stores) are private brands," Baraybar told El Universal. "To take products away from private supermarkets and stores in order to send them to the state network does not help at all."

The "bachaqueo" phenomenon -- a Venezuelan term that refers to the hoarding and resale of products subsidized by the government for private profit -- will not be effectively tackled with the order either, the industry representative insisted.

"Problems such as the 'bachaqueo' will only get worse because the food staples (used in such transactions) will precisely be sold by the stores where the resellers buy them," Baraybar said.

The Food Industry Chamber noted that the official Mercal, PDVAL y Bicentenario stores "do not have the same capacity in terms of distribution points as do private networks," according to La Verdad.

With the measure, the number of consumers that will be served by each outlet will jump from 300,000 to 380,000 per day, resulting in even larger lines for Venezuelans, the group said. Hours-long waits at government-run stores have already been a routine experience in Venezuela for years, the AP recalled.

Government officials, meanwhile, could not be reached for comment, the newswire noted. But in the past, the administration of embattled President Nicolás Maduro has frequently blamed the country's opposition for the shortages, accusing it of intentionally waging an "economic war" to depose the Socialist regime.