International powdered milk shortage leads skyrocketing prices in Belize
Posted: 07/01/2008 - 11:00 PM
Author: Aaron Humes
First it was fuel and butane gas, and then it was flour and corn products.
Now, powdered milk, known locally as Klim, is one of the latest casualties in the continuing steep rise in prices of goods Belizeans buy regularly at local shops and supermarkets.
Reports reaching the Amandala desk last week said prices for the larger tins of powdered milk and Klim were as high as $58.00.
We immediately hit the streets to see why.
Retailers at several of the managers and owners of the more popular supermarkets we spoke with on Wednesday, such as Vin Fa Shopping Center and Xtra House Supermarket on Cemetery Road, Public’s Supermarket at Church Street and West Canal, and Save U at the BelCan Bridge, pointed to rising costs at the suppliers’ end in Europe, where most of the products are manufactured. Their fellows at Wellworth Store on Regent Street and the Public’s/Quality Poultry Outlet on East Canal agreed when we visited them on Friday.
We were told by importer Santiago “Santino” Castillo Jr., with whom we spoke on Thursday, that a combination of drought in European countries, such as Denmark, as well as rising oil prices and lingering effects from the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak from more than 3 years ago, has driven supply down and prices up around the world by as much as 35%.
Looking around, we compared the retail prices for the four brands of imported powdered milk: “Rainbow”, marketed by Castillo; “Dano”, by St. Anthony’s Trading Company of Princess Margaret Drive, and “Klim/Nido”, imported by James Brodie and Company Ltd.
Retail prices we saw at the supermarkets for the 2500 g tin prices for Klim were confirmed to be hovering at an average of $52.55 among the supermarkets we checked, with the lowest prices at $49.99 and the highest at about $58.00.
Dano stood at $43.99, Rainbow at $39.12 and Nido, a Nestle brand like Klim, at $46.86. Castillo and James Brodie had suggested when we asked about these averages that we consider the importers’ plight: international conditions coupled with bothersome local taxes such as the General Sales Tax put a clamp on any profits. Steve Babb of St Anthony’s Trading echoed this view when we spoke with him on Wednesday.
Babb also told us that the limited supply actually reduced the amount of milk Belize could import. In turn, the increased costs are passed on to wholesalers such as Vin Hong of Amara Avenue and Rene’s of Cemetery Road, which set the final prices for retailers such as those we talked with above.
None of the retailers, wholesalers and importers agreed to show us their actual wholesale price listings for comparison, and calls to the Bureau of Standards in Belize City and the Ministry of Finance in Belmopan went unanswered.
However, Castillo told us today that Belizeans should brace themselves for continued price rises, not only in powdered milk, but also in condensed and evaporated milk, cheeses, butter, and indeed, all dairy products.
Babb said yesterday that increases were also expected for meat and corn products. Tortilla prices rose to $1.50 a pound in December.
All of this means a more “mawga season” than usual for cash-strapped Belizeans to start 2008.
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