Prices High Due to Higher Costs, but Some Businesses Gouging As Well
A review of the Supplies Control Unit of the Belize Bureau of Standards over the past three years from February 2020 to February 2022 focused on how the price of basic food items changed. While a significant factor has been the increase in the acquisition cost of fuel, price gouging is thought to be occurring more frequently. The Unit selected food items whose prices people complained about the most over that period. Marion Ali took a closer look at the study and for comparison went out today looking at how those prices have once again jumped.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The price of six of the nine items in the Bureau of Standards and Supplies Control Unit report increased by more than ten percent over the past two years. These are pigtails, Grace corned beef, 1-2-3 cooking oil, Cremy brand shortening, Grace canned sardines, and Dutch Lady condensed milk. The price of five of these: pigtails, Grace corned beef, 1-2-3 cooking oil, Shortening, and Grace sardines increased by more than twenty percent.
And while the price of Ramen noodles has decreased once, the price of the instant meal had hiked during the review period to more than double, from fifty cents per pack to one dollar and twenty cents in some cases. The Supplies Control Unit has reported that the increases are driven by a combination of increased purchase costs paid to foreign suppliers as well as increased shipping costs.
In the case of the Grace corned beef, which is one of the most often-cited examples of price gouging, the landed cost increased by fifty-three percent between 2020 and 2022. The cost of pigtails in brine increased by eighty-five percent for one importer during the same period. The Unit also considered that supermarkets are inclined to operate in a low-margin, high volume scenario, while smaller stores and shops tend to adopt a low-volume, higher margin approach.
The study also showed marked increases in the price of agricultural products and insecticides between February 2020 and February 2022. Freight costs by land and sea also skyrocketed, whether it was for transporting containers across the borders or sea freight for goods that come from India and China.
For comparison, we went out today to check on the prices of six items on the same list. Our investigation took us to three North-side locations, which included two supermarkets and a grocery store, as well as to two supermarkets and a grocery store on the Southside. We found out that while the prices of some of the items showed a marginal difference, there were others with vast disparities in what they cost.
For example, a can of Grace sardines at a south side supermarket costs a dollar and ninety cents while at a north side supermarket, the price was forty-one cents more for the same brand. A twelve ounce can of Grace corned beef at another south side supermarket was also much cheaper than the same item at another north side store. We’ve also observed the price of a litre of one-two-three cooking oil increased in a matter of two months from three dollars and twenty-five cents to four dollars and ninety-nine cents. And for people who love pigtails in their beans, they’ve seen the price almost double in about the same space of time.
For its part, Cabinet this week informed that it has established a firm cap on diesel and regular gasoline pump prices per gallon. These are the two forms of fuel used the most in the productive and transport sectors. Last month, the government reduced excise taxes on diesel by fifty-seven percent, which kept diesel prices at the set cost of thirteen forty-one per gallon. Had the intervention not taken place, the price of a gallon of diesel would now be at fifteen dollars and fifty four cents. The Tax reductions translate to a loss of over thirty million dollars in excise taxes for the government. Now that the government has tried to stabilize the cost of fuel, we’ll check again in the coming weeks to see if the prices of these items increase again.
Marion Ali for News Five.
