by TRACY MOORE FOOD PRICES have gone up by about 25 per cent in the last three years, compared with an inflation rate of 13 per cent. This was revealed by director of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), Decoursey Eversley, at the launch of the Consumer Protection Committee yesterday morning at Savannah Hotel, Hastings, Christ Church. He said, for example, that imported turkey wings went up by 33.4 per cent last year; tuna by 15.6 per cent; cheese 7.17 per cent (or 50.24 per cent from Britain) and corned beef by a whopping 52.5 per cent. However, the highest price increases were from local or regional products, including fish (53.8 per cent); butter and other cooking fats and oils (33.9 per cent); vegetables and ground provisions (28 per cent); milk, milk products and eggs (28 per cent) and fruits (27.4 per cent). Revealing more details on an inquiry conducted by the FTC into the food distribution industry from 2003 to 2006, he said the evidence showed there was some measure of "monopolistic pricing by manufacturers and wholesalers . . . controlling the supply of particular brands". Major suppliers He said there were three major suppliers - SBI Distribution Inc, A.S. Bryden & amp; Sons (B'dos) Ltd and R. L. Seale - who accounted for about 45.4 per cent of the overall wholesale market, which added up to $512 million. In addition, he stated there were a few major supermarket chains like the SuperCentre chains, Hanschell Inniss, Trimart, Jordans, Eddies Trading and PriceSmart which dominated the retail market and contributed an estimated sales of about $883 million. He also said other contributing factors to the hike in prices included increases in sea freight, inland freighting costs in mainland United States, in raw materials costs, in costs of packaging materials, the cess on extra-regional imports (which is to end tomorrow), increases in energy, fuel or transportation costs and application of VAT on certain products. He added that limited consumer information and consistently strong consumer demand also contributed to high prices. tracymoore @nationnews.com Please see also Page 7.
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