The Tribune

• Principal expects no baby formula shortage

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s principal says he does “not expect” The Bahamas to be hit by the baby formula shortage afflicting the US, while the supermarket chain’s buying strategies have reduced food inflation’s impact by 15-20 percent.

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that the 13-store business was experiencing “no problems keeping our shelves full” of baby formula despite a US crisis that has forced the Biden administration to fly in 70,000 pounds of the product from overseas while employing wartime legislation in a bid to speed up domestic production.

Some 43 percent of baby formula was said to be out-of-stock in the US at the beginning of May, but he added that Super Value was having no difficulty accessing supplies available internationally. “Although they don’t let us stock up on it, we’ve had no problems keeping our shelves full to my knowledge,” Mr Roberts said.

“When I checked with the buyer, they won’t let us put 1,000 cases in the warehouse and hoard it. But we have it, and I don’t expect it to hit The Bahamas the way it has in the US with empty shelves. I don’t expect it. I would advise consumers not to stock up. We don’t expect problems internationally. It hasn’t affected international. All of the local agencies that represent the milk here have kept us up-to-date. Thank goodness it’s not going to affect us. I can’t imagine the public going back to evaporated milk.”

Many parents in the US have been struggling to feed their babies and young children due to the formula shortage gripping that nation, which is affecting some states - the likes of Texas, Tennessee and Iowa - more than others. Several factors, namely production impediments and post-COVID supply chain bottlenecks, have produced the crisis.

Abbott Laboratories, a major producer, in February closed a manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, after it recalled infant formula products when a federal investigation started after four babies taking it developed bacterial infections, two of whom died.

Abbott says there is no link between its formula and the illnesses, but baby formula was already being affected by pandemic-related supply chain problems. The Michigan plant closure just made it much worse, but most Bahamian pharmacies largely echoed Mr Roberts in saying they have experienced little to no difficulty in sourcing baby formula. Only one disclosed challenges.

Shakeria Rolle, general manager of LiveWell Pharmacy, told Tribune Business it was having challenges acquiring the Lactogen baby formula and had totally run out of one stage. It was also experiencing difficulties getting the Enfamil formula, too.

She added: “Right now it is OK with the baby formula, but just recently we had challenges getting it in so parents would have had to switch to what was available. Originally it was the Lactogen stage one we were out of, but the Enfamil was available.

“So then the parents just switched to Enfamil. Then, at one point, the Lactogen Stage three wasn’t available and parents just opted to give them the Lactogen Stage two, so they just found an alternative to what they were on until what they were originally on came back in stock.”

Sheila Lumayag, head pharmacist at Heaven Sent Pharmacy, said it was not having any challenges sourcing baby formula and was just “waiting for the shipment to get in”. She added: “Our shipment should be in by today and we are expecting the full shipment.”

Darcel Bain, operations manager at Doc’s Pharmacy, added: “We haven’t put in our order yet. We don’t have any baby formula at this time, but we do have baby food in stock. But when we do put in the order then we’ll know what we’re up against.”

Super Value’s Mr Roberts, meanwhile, predicted that himself and other grocery retailers will continue to see a sales “slowdown” as hard-pressed consumers, with wages and purchasing power eroded by price increases, switch to largely buying necessities only.

“I think consumers have decided what they’re going to pay and what they’re going to buy,” he added. “I think we’re going to see a slowdown in sales to what they can afford to buy and pay for products. We’re still in the stage of ‘I want it,can afford it, but refuse to pay that price’ if it’s not a necessity.

“I think sales have already slowed. They’re up and down, but I think for all the merchants it’s going to be hard to meet last year’s sales. The slowdown has already happened.” Still, Mr Roberts said Super Value’s practice of buying in bulk several months in advance, in a bid to lock-in the lower prices prevailing then, was helping to mitigate the impact of food inflation for Bahamian consumers.

“Between 15 percent and 20 percent,” the Super Value chief replied, when asked how much the supermarket chain has been able to lower the impact of soaring food prices by. “That will go on for a while until we sell out of the stocks. We bought to beat the price increases. 

“If prices increase, we don’t anticipate having to increase prices on the staples, the breadbasket items, for three to four months because we have advanced stocks in that we have paid for. Every merchandise that we have coming in today and next month is coming in at the old price we booked out. Some of the items we had out six months ago; we bought it and paid the price that was agreed.

“The suppliers are honoring it. Our next shipment of Devon corn beef will be three shipments at once. To beat the price they have to ship it. These are the things that are going to help us. We’ve very comfortable. What we want to be over-stocked in, we are over-stocked in. We may get caught on the sales as may not sell as fast as national brands. We have some new brands on cooking oil. We caught the price and are offering them to the public.”