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‘Higher prices coming in October,’ says Super Value president

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Rupert Roberts

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net’

Super Value’s president said higher prices are coming to stores in October, but he will do the best he can to keep prices from getting out of control.

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that while even higher prices are on the horizon, he is doing the best he can to minimize the impact for consumers considering all that’s happening in the retail grocer business including rising cost in shipping.

“Prices and rates have increased, but we are going to do the best we can,” he said.

Food retailers and wholesalers all point towards a very expensive end of year with food prices trending upwards on all items as consumers return to work in the US and as factories and agro-processing plants remain understaffed. On top of this is the rising cost of shipping and freight.

Mr Roberts said: “We should start to import higher prices around October or November just what we said previously. We almost have corned beef inventory to last until next summer, although we are having one more shipment in at the old price because we have a forward contract.

“We’ve got probably 10 months inventory of corned beef on hand or booked at the low price. We work every day to try to deal with this matter when we know we’re going to get a price increase, we put on three or four orders and they come in month after month.

“We’re here to put groceries on the table at the best possible price and we work hard every day to do that.”

Family favourite items like corned beef, cream and spaghetti is what Mr Roberts gauges how prices across the entire store will trend, sometimes months in advance. Once he sees certain grocery items trending upward he makes plans to address it months in advance to give consumers the best possible chance to shop within their budget.

“We don’t want to keep promoting bad news out there because we are holding prices wherever we can,” said Mr Roberts. “I have seen the media in the US saying that there is already a five percent increase in the supermarkets, but we haven’t imported that yet because of the way we buy. When we know its going up we cover ourselves with forward orders and delay higher prices for about three months.”

Despite the consistent warnings of price increases coupled with the soft economy brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Roberts said Bahamian shopping habits have still not changed at all.

“Bahamians still want the national brands, but they will buy private labels if they are good quality at a lower price” he said.

Comments

John 3 years, 4 months ago

Conserve, conserve conserve! The key to survival. Cut back on things you don’t really need. Food prices are high but everyone eating out is even more expensive. Buying in bulk is not always the right thing if you have family members who will consume everything and some will not contribute to replacing items they consume. If you can’t purchase high value items now, before the prices increase, delay purchasing until prices come back down. The less consumers spend, the quicker prices will come back down. And if you plan to shop for the holidays, do it in September., and do your Black Friday shopping online if only for health reasons to avoid large crowds.

joeblow 3 years, 4 months ago

... truth is prices have been higher for many months already and things are about to get worse! Super Value should be a publicly traded company!

DonAnthony 3 years, 4 months ago

Amen. Greedy Rupert Roberts should have offered shares to the Bahamian public long ago. This is why Abaco Markets is a much better choice, they have over 1200 Bahamian shareholders.

tribanon 3 years, 4 months ago

I suspect Minnis told Roberts about his intention to increase the VAT rate from 12% to 20% if he can dupe the voters for a second time.

Emilio26 3 years, 3 months ago

How can you determine that Dr. Minnis will increase even though you're not sure he's going to win.

tribanon 3 years, 3 months ago

You clearly have a problem with the meaning of the words "if" and "dupe".

B_I_D___ 3 years, 3 months ago

Food prices are going through the roof and there is nothing we can do about it. All you major food producers have been VERY OPEN and all of the have been saying prices are going UP. Freight costs have also gone through the roof...in some instances shipping costs up over 700%. Don't go blaming the Bahamian businesses for 'being greedy' when the first cost direct from the manufacturer is spiking. This is a GLOBAL issue, not just a Bahamas issue.

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