Onion scarcity sends prices rocketing
The U.S. and other countries are going in recession. In Belize the tourism industry is being affected, and to add to our woes, this week there was a scarcity of onions, one of our daily staples in the food we consume everyday. As a result, the price skyrocketed at the markets and grocery stores over the weekend to an all time high of seven dollars a pound. While it has now gone down to five dollars at most places, it is still ridiculously high for a product that is grown locally and for which we usually spend in the range of two dollars per pound. The local production is normally supplemented by onions from Mexico but with soaring prices, we turned to Holland to bring in the priced onions. But the cargo was delayed when the ship experienced problems near Jamaica causing the scarcity. But now, according to the Managing Director of the Belize Marketing & Development Corporation Roque Mai, all that is history now. Mai says the cargo of the much sought vegetable has arrived and is now being distributed around the country. As for the price, well that’s another story. Mai says there is no control price for onions, so retailers can tax you whatever they decide but warns the public that the price per pound should not exceed two dollars if it is within city limits, and a couple shillings more if you’re in the other districts.
Roque Mai, Managing Dir., Belize Marketing & Dev. Corp
“We try to give a reasonable price to the Belizean consumer but what happen is that when it goes out there it’s beyond our control and at this moment I would like to take the opportunity that the shop owners, if they do got to the shop and they buy it at the market, the most they should pay is seventy-five here in Belize City for a sack of fifty pounds. Here in Belize City they should pay seventy-two. Out district, maybe San Ignacio seventy-three/seventy-five, and PG around seventy-eight. Even if we still as far as Corozal, Orange Walk seventy-five and Corozal would fall to maybe seventy-six due to the transportation, the fuel cost. It shouldn’t jump over a hundred dollars a sack. It’s very ridiculous that some people go out there and buy it for a hundred a sack which marketing board—all the blame falls on the marketing board but we know for a fact that the onions are coming in at one-twenty per pound for sale and out at the market is beyond our control. The local production, they start to plant in November that means the people from the north and I think other parts of the country they do as well. The high production yield comes from the north and they start after the rainy season. that production when they start to plant I think they come in effect to what we have studied here and monitored here art the marketing board isn’t until February; mid February. That production for the past had last until the end of May or mid June. This year the marketing board start our import from mid June. We began first with Mexico when we had shipped from Mexico but after a while the prices were pretty high so we diverted to Holland. The onions are very good, they last long on the shelf. If you compare it to the Mexican onions that the most they last is like a week or two weeks on the shelf. These last about a month and a half. So they are fresh and they have been like three weeks in the ship and they are still fresh. At what we compare the prices, they are cheaper. The ones we brought in from Mexico, the prices were high and still we’re looking at the prices in Mexico right now and the prices are still high.”
But what caused the shortage in the first place, according to Mai, was a decision to forego a shipment for one week because of the abundance of onions three weeks ago. That aside, he says there are discussions aimed at encouraging local farmers to plant year round in order to avoid another scarcity and price-gouging.
Roque Mai
“Recently I sat with the Ministry of Agriculture in Belmopan with the C.E.O. and the officials there in regards to the local production. What they are doing is encouraging farmers for higher production. Maybe this year it wont be possible but for the next production, 2009-2010, whereas to encourage farmers to look for a possibility of an export market in the Caribbean. So whereas there will be this spoilage because recently there were a lot of spoilage when local farmers harvest their production so they had been a lot of spoilage if there is not enough market for it. When there is a lot of production and there is no market outside because the consumption like I said is about sixty-five thousand pounds and we are being affected as well by contraband as well, the local farmers as well and it is beyond our control as well. The market was flooded in the country hence, we monitored and we delayed a container from Holland and then they decided that they wanted to get the market under normal flow with onion. Wholesalers were concerned as well, they couldn’t sell their products that they purchased from marketing board after the market was full. So we listened to their concerns and we they delayed an order. Normally, our orders are sent about a week before our container arrives here every week. But the one we got was also delayed in that the vessel had a problem in Jamaica. That’s beyond our control and that’s what kept back everything. But at this moment right now everything is back to normal from here onwards. We imported a hundred and thirty thousand pounds of onion. We’re looking at the statistics that Belizeans consume sixty-five thousand pounds of onion every week. That’s what we’re monitoring here at the marketing board. That’s what we sell every week, sixty-five thousand pounds. That was very okay to us but what we had said was the vessel had problems in Jamaica and that was the reason why there was a scarcity. Right now we are making orders up to the end of December so we should have enough onions on the market.”
It is World Food Day tomorrow, and there may be onions on your table, that is, if you pay the price the grocer charges.
