The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s principal says he is “very thrilled” that Ukraine has begun to ship grain and related products again although it will be some months before Bahamian consumers see any food price benefits.

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business in a recent interview that Bahamian food stores typically order product some two-and-a-half months out so it will take time before Ukraine’s supply resumption - and the fall in global wheat prices and other staple commodities - makes its way into the local food chain.

Russia and Ukraine reached a late July deal for the latter to resume grain, wheat and other agricultural exports from its Black Sea ports, supervised by Turkey and the United Nations (UN). The hope is that the increased supply will help stabilise world food prices, with some products increasing by up to 50 percent in The Bahamas since supply issues emerged, while fighting off malnutrition, hunger and starvation in developing countries.

“I was very thrilled. That will be a big roll-out. Where that grain goes, it’s going to free up the world market and impact the prices for us. It’s really good news. I hope more of it happens,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. “That’s really a drop in the bucket of what Ukraine and Russia have to export and, of course, the rest of the world needs them to grow again and everything else. So it’s really good news. I was surprised when they made the agreement, but it’s good news.

“Those are two big volume items; grain and flour, and related products and cooking oil. They’re big volume items, so if they come down it will be a great help to the budget. Let’s take cooking oil. Cooking oil in some cases doubled, in some cases tripled. But we had almost a year’s supply. We had at least ten months of cooking oil, which we didn’t buy at full price.”

Wheat commodity prices, which peaked at $13 after Russia’s Ukraine invasion began, on Friday were reported by the New York Times to be trading back at $8 per bushel following the two countries’ deal - a level not far from the $7.70 per bushel that prevailed immediately prior to hostilities.

Mr Roberts, while agreeing that “many, many items related to grain” will see their prices come under pressure, added that it may still be some months before Bahamian consumers feel the relief in their food budgets. “Anything we order now is not going to come in for two-and-a-half months,” he told this newspaper. “They’re going to price two-and-a-half months from now. Whatever prevails two-and-a-half months from now we’ll get it. They’ll price it accordingly.”

Philip Beneby, the Retail Grocers Association’s president, said: “There’s some griping here and there about food prices, but everybody understands this is a worldwide phenomenon that we’re going through and The Bahamas is no exception. What can you do? The only thing you can do is govern yourself and buy what you need and, what you don’t need, you don’t buy.”

Adding that it was impossible to predict when global food prices will ease, he added: “You cannot put any gauge or timeline on it at this time. We’re still dealing with COVID. We just have to hope for the best. We are an importing nation; that’s where we are. Even that [the Russia-Ukraine deal] will take some time to trickle down because you’re dealing with existing inventory.

“We have to exhaust existing inventory. Without a doubt there have been price changes and all of the changes are trending upwards. There has been some tremendous increases in terms of some cooking oils and other by-products and the like. Some of the areas I can recall have increased by as much as 50 percent just like the price of fuel has been increasing.”