Americans are eating more cereal and oatmeal during the coronavirus pandemic

• Sales of dry goods like cereal have seen a spike in the US as Americans eat their meals indoors.
• General Mills announced it's increasing its number of manufacturing partners up to 20%, up from the 200 they already have contracts with.
• The company reported a 16% increase in comparable sales for the most recent quarter ended May 31.
• PepsiCo's Quaker Oats and Frito-Lay brands have also seen a boost in sales in recent months.

As consumers continue to stay home for their meals, manufacturers of dry goods are working overtime as boxes fly off the shelves.

To keep up with the demand, cereal maker General Mills recently announced they will add new supply-chain partnerships, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company already has 200 third-party partners, and that number is expected to climb up to 20%, said John Church, General Mills' chief supply chain and global business solutions officer, in a Dow Jones interview. These contracts are expected to last until at least next summer.

General Mills factories are already working at capacity, but the company has also decided to increase spending in order to figure out how to best fit its supply chain needs.

"What's unknowable right now is how long you are going to need the additional capacity, which is the benefit of seeking out an external supply-chain capacity solution," General Mills finance chief Kofi Bruce told The Wall Street Journal. "You're not stuck with the cost of those assets if the demand evaporates or goes away pretty quickly."

The company operates 47 food-production facilities globally, including 24 in the U.S.

The company reported a 16% increase in comparable sales for the most recent quarter ended May 31, and its next earnings report will be announced on July 30.

General Mills isn't the only company seeing an increase in demand for their packaged goods. PepsiCo's Quaker Oats, which makes oatmeal and the Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal, and Frito-Lay brands have seen 23% and 6% increase in sales, respectively.