Understanding the Complex Factors Behind Barbados' Rising Food Prices according to Barbados Chamber of Commerce President

Retailers alone cannot be called to task for the high cost of food prices facing Barbadians, says president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) James Clarke.

Responding to concerns raised by Senior Minister with responsibility for the Productive Sectors Kerrie Symmonds in last SUNDAY SUN, Clarke noted that many contributing factors which led to inflation were beyond the control of retailers.

“This is something we’ve (BCCI) spoken on a number of times before. I’m not sure why it keeps coming back to the retailers because there’s a whole chain of things that it takes to get food here,” he said.

“Prices sometimes are increasing in other parts of the world. Shipping costs are still very high . . . they went up since May. So all of these things influence the cost of goods that come into the island. It’s not just the retailers.”

Barbados, like many nations across the world, has dealt with an increase in food prices with shoppers often lamenting the high cost of living. As these challenges continue, Government expressed concerns that certain retailers were not doing their best to maintain fair prices.

Symmonds, who is Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, urged the public to support those who prioritised consumers’ well-being and avoid those who did not.

“There is clear evidence to us that prices are being contained by some parts of the Barbados distributive sector, that they are keeping prices at realistic and very low levels. And then there are other people who are being very cavalier with the public . . . .

“The public needs to know who are those that are acting in a dishonourable way and be able to treat those people appropriately, while lending their support to those who are looking out for the well-being of the consumer,” he said.

Clarke told the DAILY NATION retailers were often depicted as ones in charge of setting the costs but the numbers on the labels were more influenced by the charges tacked on to already high shipping costs.

“The retailers are at the very end. You’ve got to study where the food is coming from and what is the source market. What is happening in that market is driving up the cost. We know shipping from the beginning of May has gone up tremendously.

“Once the shipping goes up, once it gets here at the port, we pay duty and VAT and everything on all the freight, duty on the goods and all of these things. When that goes up, then the percentage of VAT and duty is calculated on the freight – on the CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value – so that then carries up the price. When you come to mark it up, the retailers are on the end of the line,” he said.

The addition of duty, VAT, transportation costs and local transportation were all elements that dictated the price before it was merchandised on a supermarket shelf. This, Clarke said, was what needed attention.

“It has to be everybody along the way from the shippers, shipping, the actual shipping lines themselves, source market, Government when it reaches here and then certainly, the retailers.

“We are price-takers, unfortunately, for a lot of things. If the cost of some commodity goes up 100 per cent in another market, we really feel it here, but the shipping is one of them that really adds a lot,” he added.

At Massy Supermarket in Warrens, St Michael, Sunday, George Fortune, who was with his wife, said that in recent years their grocery bills increased by roughly 20 per cent.

“I shop for groceries about three or four times a week. Looking at it monthly I’d say my grocery bill is roughly about $1 200. It used to be less but I would say for a long time the grocery bills have been high.”

Another shopper, Rawle Clarke, said his grocery bill had increased in recent times but not to a large extent.

“I would say they are reasonable, no big jumps in prices. You might find that some things here are cheaper than Popular and at Popular it’s vice versa,” he said.

Director of Carlton AOne Supermarkets Tomilson Bynoe said he was not privy to the comments made by Symmonds, but offered some insight to various factors affecting retailer prices.

“Retailers as a norm are not out there trying to raise pricing at this time. It doesn’t benefit us. Purchasing power is still purchasing power. If my price is too high, then how can my customer base afford to buy something? Each retailer has their own individual economic micro-anomalies in terms of cost of electricity, staffing costs, cost of packaging and income cost theory,” he explained.

“I think we again have to understand we are not a commander of prices here. We don’t determine price points. We import everything and therefore most of the prices that you see on the shelves carry imported inflation in them; that’s the reality of the world. You can see that pricing has moved. The global pricing net for food continues to rise,” he added.

Bynoe, who is also an executive member of BCCI, said a decline in global pricing net would be the thing to bring an ease in the high food prices stressing consumers.

“The discussion is not one that we can have in isolation because everybody’s economies are different in each of our individual retail spaces. If Retailer X’s corned beef is more expensive than Retailer Y’s corned beef, you can’t assume that one person is trying to price gouge.

“There may be factors, including the fact that they can only buy, because of their demand, two cases a week; whereas another retailer can buy 20 cases a week and negotiate better pricing. So you see a difference in pricing, assume that this person is doing something untoward to the customer, and it’s not that,” Bynoe added.