Apr 2007 Financial News

Govt to import cheaper food...NFM, Namdevco to act as agents

Apr 27, 2007

LEGAL AFFAIRS Minister Christine Kangaloo says Government has taken action to deal with rising food prices.

To combat soaring prices, Kangaloo said, Government would increase the supply of food in the country by importing food items from cheaper sources, “with savings being passed on to the consumer.”

National Flour Mills (NFM) and National Agriculture Marketing and Development Company (Namdevco) have been charged with undertaking a food import and distribution programme.

This was an initiative proposed by Prime Minister Patrick Manning in a budget he delivered more than two years ago. However, red tape had kept Namdevco from making any headway in implementing the plan.

Dried peas, beans, dairy products, meats and non-perishables would be obtained by NFM from Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, while fresh fruits and vegetables would be sourced from Chile by Namdevco.

Kangaloo did not say, however, when this source of cheaper food would become available to consumers.

To assist further in the supply of food, Kangaloo said, Minister of Trade and Industry Kenneth Valley has invited his Caricom counterparts to indicate their interest in supplying various food items to T&T.

Expressions of interest have been received from Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname.

The announcement was made by Kangaloo during a post-Cabinet meeting at Whitehall yesterday.

Addressing the media, Kangaloo said in order to address the issue of inflation, Cabinet had agreed that a ministerial task force be established with the responsibility to deal comprehensively with the increase in the food sector.

The task force—comprising Ministers Valley, Christine Sahadeo, Jarette Narine, Anthony Roberts, Colm Imbert and Christine Kangaloo—was established last November.

“To treat with the issue of food prices, the task force agreed on a number of strategies aimed at achieving a sustainable reduction in the level of prices through short, medium and long-term initiatives.”

Part of this initiative involves the establishment of several wholesale farmers’ market by Namdevco.

Namdevco has also been working in conjunction with some regional corporations to identify locations for wholesale farmers’ markets in Port-of-Spain, Chaguanas, Arima, Sangre Grande, San Fernando and Rio Claro.

“The objective of this programme is to facilitate retail trading by farmers directly to consumers, thereby eliminating the middle man and to make food more affordable.”

Government also intends to develop a consumer awareness programme that will serve to highlight the differences of prices across the country, thereby proving options to the consumer.

In keeping with Government’s policy to reduce the cost of food supply, Kangaloo said, 40 per cent of import surcharge had also been removed from imported chicken parts, “while import surcharge on turkey parts is expected to be removed shortly.”

Task force strategies include:

Increasing the supply of food on the domestic market.
State intervention where appropriate—to reduce the cost of food supplies through the removal of non-tariffs barriers, import surcharge, reductions or suspension of the common external tariffs and removal of VAT.

Source:
The Trinidad Guardian
Friday 27th April, 2007

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news10.html