Higher World Wheat Cost Results in Flour Price Rise

Minister of Industry, Commerce and Investment, Hon. Karl Samuda has said that come Monday (October 15), the marketplace will be seeing an increase in the price of flour. Speaking at a press briefing at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston yesterday (October 12), the Minister explained that this increase stems from a dramatic increase of about 67 per cent in the world price of wheat between January and September.
He pointed out that “the shipment of flour that has just arrived and will be available to the market on Monday has attracted an increased price of 47.5 per cent for counter flour and 28.5 per cent for baking flour.” As a result, he said, the local market will experience a 30 per cent price increase on counter flour and a 20 per cent rise in the price of baking flour. Minister Samuda noted that in the weeks to come, the price increase for flour will also impact on the cost of baked products, animal feed and poultry. The Minister implored suppliers to sell existing stocks of flour before introducing the new price. “Anyone that we find through our assessment, guilty of selling the old stock at the new price.we will bring to the public attention and we will not hesitate to call the names of those supermarkets that we find guilty,” Minister Samuda warned.
He said that the Consumer Affairs Commission will be surveying the supermarkets to see to what extent the new prices will be taking effect. As it relates to the increase in price, the Minister emphasized that: “This is a matter over which we have absolutely no control. These are world conditions that affect every country, particularly those of this region in CARICOM. All the countries of the CARICOM are now facing this reality,” he highlighted. As it relates to the solutions, Minister Samuda pointed out that: “We will now have to do our internal adjustments in terms of consumption patterns. We will have to begin to appreciate the importance of concentrating on growing what we eat and eating what we grow.” He added that the solution is simply “feeding ourselves by growing more, producing more on our farms, processing more and relying less on imported products.”