Beat pots and pans to protest flour increase

Former President of the Supermarket Association, Balliram Maharaj is calling on the public to begin to follow the people of Argentina and form a peaceful protest with any item from their kitchen, “whether pot, pan, spoon or plate.” This in the wake of a six percent increase in flour, which NFM announced this week, and will become effective from tomorrow. In a statement yesterday, Maharaj further suggested a possible date for the protest, Friday 13, (Black Friday). “Maybe a good time to start is Friday 13 when housewives and any member of the public or any other organisations, rally around Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain, when Parliament is in progress, armed with pot or pan and make some noise,” he said.

However, he urged the public that if they do decide to protest, that they get the permission of the police in order to carry out the demonstration. Maharaj said such a protest was needed since very soon the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) would be in place and TT must send a strong signal to the authorities, objecting to the policies on food prices as it relates to Caricom, Oil and Fats and World Trade Agreements. He lamented that over the past years, the State, being an investor in the Flour Mills, allows them to show high profits on items such as flour, rice, oil and corn. “National Flour Mills is one of the only companies that enjoy free concession on basic food products.

If it was not for this protection that they enjoyed, they will never be able to show these high profits,” he said. Maharaj said he could not understand how any government can allow an entire nation to pay high prices for basic commodities, which result in big profits for the shareholders of NFM. The State-owned company justified the price hike, saying that in recent months, the cost of wheat has been increasing on the world market and in some cases by as much as 30 percent. Consumer and Legal Affairs Minister, Danny Montano has promised legislation called the “Fair Trading Bill,” as a mechanism in order to monitor and investigate the monopoly on flour prices and prices on other basic food items as controlled by the NFM.

Montano said he has already approached Prime Minister Patrick Manning on the issue and will be discussing the details this week. Speaking with Sunday Newsday yesterday, Montano said: “There is nothing in the system to control the monopoly held by NFM and something has to be done about it because everything else is going up, rice, chicken and chicken feed and this will have ripple effects on the price increase of other food items.” He said yesterday, he had a meeting with a group of young men, who told him they had nothing to eat all day and didn’t know when next they will have a meal. Montano said he became starkly aware of the reality of poverty and that there were some people who would not be able to afford the price increases on some food items. He said when the Bill is passed, Government will be able to appoint a Commission to investigate and regulate future price increases.

He noted that when NFM had increased the price of rice recently and he asked them not to raise the price, the company said no, and he felt this will be the situation again with the flour price increase carded to take effect from tomorrow. Montano said he will also be approaching the Bakers’ Association on the matter this week. President of the Supermarket Association, Heranand Maharaj, suggested that Gov-ernment remove the 25 percent on import duties to allow other importers to compete with NFM. As a State-owned company, NFM has the monopoly to import without such duties. And how will the six percent increase in flour affect the consumer? According to the new NFM wholesale prices, a ten kilo bag of flour will increase from $33 to $35, a two kilo bag from $70.50 to $74.50 and a 45 kilo, from $120 to $127.20, for example. This could represent a 50 cents to $1 increase in the price of flour, per pound.