Prepare to pay more for pasta, as FOOD PRICES UP AGAIN

LOCAL floods and global factors are sending up food prices once more. 

Domestic farmers, wholesalers, and retailers say vegetable prices could double over the next few weeks as a result of recent heavy floods in the various food baskets. 

That could make your Christmas goodies more expensive than ever. 

With Trinidad and Tobago importing the value of $6 billion in food each year, international issues are expected to see further price increases. 

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is projecting price hikes in several staple commodities, including wheat. 

Local retail prices of grocery items went up by an average of 50 per cent since 2018, a recent survey found. 

A further hike in the cost of pasta is expected soon, as the Government is moving to suspend the Common External Tariff (CET) and increase the duty from 20 per cent to 60 per cent. 

The higher duties are to be imposed in January. 

Opposition spokesman on trade and industry Rushton Paray described the impending move as “heartlessness” by the Government, “especially toward the poor.” 

Paray also branded the policy measure as “further evidence of the Government’s unholy embrace of big business corporations.” 

Vemco Ltd., founded and headed by Victor Mouttet, is a major manufacturer of pasta. 

In 2017, Mouttet served as sole Government-appointed investigator in the procurement of two inter-island vessels. 

He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s Committee that looked at post-Covid-19 measures. 

In 2018, he headed a five-member implementation team to examine projects in which the private sector is interested. 

Two years ago, when the Government introduced a similar protectionist measure for the domestic pasta industry, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said this was designed to save jobs. 

But Paray noted that several other industries are subjected to market competition but had not obtained similar shelter from the Government. 

With respect to vegetable prices, they are being influenced by the flooding out of production fields in the Caroni Plains, Penal-Debe-Barrackpore, and elsewhere during recent seasonal rains. 

The low-lying Woodland area was also affected by recurring problems with sluice gates. 

A random market survey discovered that market prices of several items – such as bodi, lettuce, tomato, melongene, cabbage, cucumbers, etc. – are already soaring. 

An analysis of wholesale prices by the National Agricultural and Marketing Corporation (NAMDEVCO) showed that vegetables, along with some fruits and root crops, are priced higher than in recent months. 

In addition to the ruinous effects of floods, farmers are also paying higher prices for urea and other fertilisers. 

Some commodity seeds are also in short supply. 

Farmers have repeated their annual pleas for dredging of flood-prone water courses, including tributaries, and for the disbursement of compensation for affected food growers. 

But none of those issues could be resolved in time to offset a major spike in vegetable costs, which would take place during the period when consumers traditionally purchase more than at other times of the year. 

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has said it is monitoring grocery prices, but that has not made a difference to shoppers. 

Supermarket owners have complained about higher cost of freight and other charges, along with steeper commodity prices.