The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian consumers were yesterday warned to brace for 6 per cent food price increases “across the board”, due to the damage done to US farmers’ crops and livestock by harsh weather conditions earlier this year.

Both Rupert Roberts, Super Value’s owner, and Philip Beneby, the Retail Grocers Association’s president, said that with US food prices going up by 4 per cent, dairy and meat produce sold in the Bahamas was likely to be “hit hard”.

Emphasising that they wanted to dispel suggestions that food retailers were ‘charging Value-Added Tax’ prior to its implementation, Messrs Beneby and Roberts said lime prices were the “highest I’ve ever seen” in 24 and 62 years of food retailing, respectively.

And they added that, to-date, the Government’s Business Licence Unit had been unreceptive to their requests that the food retail and wholesale industry be allowed to pay their Business Licences - some of which have doubled by multi-million sums - via monthly payments, rather than the normal lump sum.

“The cost of food has gone up by 4 per cent in the US so far this year, because of the snow, drought and floods,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. “It’s hard to estimate, but we have expensive freight rates and import duties, so it’s going to go up more than 4 per cent here. It may be closer to 6 per cent here.”

He added that milik, cheese and dairy products had been “hit hard”, with the effects of price increases and supply shortages working their way through the system since early 2014. Pork, beef, turkey and chicken prices have been similarly impacted.

“I don’t want people to start this story that the stores are already charging VAT,” Mr Beneby added. “US prices are going up, which is where we get most of our products from, so the public should expect increased prices, especially in the pork area.

“Lime prices are so high right now that some of the local wholesalers refuse to carry them currently. They’re at $96.57 a case. That’s the highest I have ever seen for a 175-200 lime case. That’s the highest I’ve seen in my 24 years of being in the trade.”

Mr Roberts concurred, advising consumers to instead switch to buying lime juice, which is still available at the old, lower prices.

The Super Value president added that eggs had suffered “a double whammy”, hit by a combination of increased US prices and the Government here increasing import tariffs from 10 per cent to 30 per cent to protect the remnants of local egg producers.

“The Government increased duty to 30 per cent, the food stores are only allowed to make 10 per cent, which does not cover shrinkage and theft, so the Government is making more than the food stores,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business.

“These are the things the public needs to be aware of so that they don’t put the blame on supermarket operators.”

The increase in global and US food prices again highlights the Bahamas’ food security issues, given this nation’s annual $1 billion import bill. Some observers will see it as strengthening the hand of those calling for it to be reduced via an increase in domestic production, plus boosting the case for the Government’s Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Sciences Institute (BAMSI).

Mr Beneby, meanwhile, said negotiations with the Government over the Association’s members paying their 2014 Business Licence fees in monthly instalments, rather than one lump sum payment, were “ongoing”.

“The position is pay what has been owed; no monthly payments at this time,” Mr Roberts said of the Government’s current stance. While Business Licence fees will move to quarterly payments next year, the Government is not contemplating such a move for 2014.

The Super Value chief suggested that the Government was “not in the same hymn book”, contrasting the position of Business Licence Unit head, Roger Forbes, with the suggestion by Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, that people having dfifficulty paying their real property tax pay what they can.

Mr Roberts questioned whether, if food stores failed to pay in full by March 31 and obtain the necessary Business Licence, the police would close them down.

“We’re trying to co-operate and work in harmony with the Government, hoping we’ll receive the same co-operative spirit from them,” Mr Beneby added.