The Minister of Agriculture of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has asked consumers in Latin America and the Caribbean to refrain from buying what he considers to be overpriced imported food and to switch to a diet reflective of local consumption.
The Minister commented that “there are many multinationals which are milking the system on the back of a global supply chain disruption excuse. We are witnessing unreasonable price increases by some local supermarkets and other retailers, as many try to make up for declines in their profit margins experienced in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic period. I am not suggesting that current high oil prices are not having a knock-on effect on commodity prices. While that is true, and inflation is real, there is clear evidence that unfair pricing is on steroids.”
The Minister furthered that “this unconscionable act by external commodity producers is in some instances exacerbated by unreasonable pricing locally by purely profit-driven sellers, taking millions of food vulnerable families to the brink of starvation. Have the markups of sellers changed? Is this a case of simple unfettered gouging? Is it fair in a period of global inflation to protect your profits with steel-reinforced bars and even misrepresent the actual increases in prices? Many are attempting to make the same pre-covid and pre-Russia/Ukraine conflict profits and to allow the burden of inflation to be carried only on the heads of the working people in the Americas. Producers in the Americas should mobilize and see this as an excellent opportunity to expand indigenous food supply chains. Unless we reduce our demand on current external supply chains and launch well-planned, structured and conceived local alternatives we may never see a return to normal pricing even after the gas price inflation ends.”