Clucking with glee?

ABOUT six weeks ago, Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis refuted the reasons given by a leading producer of chicken for the continuing rise in the price of this popular food item. The Minister went into detail to debunk the causes given by the industry for their steep increase in the price of their product. The effect of her response was widely disturbing as it produced a feeling among the consuming public that they were being exploited by the group of TT chicken producers taking advantage of their control of the local market.

The fact is that our people are among the world's most voracious consumers of chicken and, therefore, the jacking up of prices must result in some hardship for lower-income families and also send up the cost of living for the entire country. In such a situation, it would seem that, in the public's interest, the Government must seriously consider the removal of surcharges and duties on imported chicken which would also break the stranglehold which local producers have on the market. Speaking to a meeting of supermarket proprietors on Wednesday, the Minister noted that prices, particularly of staple foods such as chicken, "have been increasing at an unprecedented rate for no apparent reason." She added: "In these circumstances, the government of Trinidad and Tobago is looking at removing the protection that is now afforded to chicken producers, because we have come to recognise that all of us are consumers and consequently no one group or monopoly should take advantage of consumers in a way that results in, in effect, gouging of consumers and leaving them at the mercy of one group of persons."

It may well be that chicken producers have taken for granted the protection they have enjoyed for so long. But they must now be aware that, in any case, the days of that protective regime are strictly numbered and, with the implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy in the next two years, they will begin to face open competition from the region. And, when the Free Trade Area of the Americas comes into being they will have to contend with the possible entry of chicken from hemispheric producers. So instead of using their control over a protected market to gouge consumers, as the Minister has pointed out, local chicken producers are best advised to examine their operations and find ways to make them more efficient and productive and, of course, better geared to meet the coming foreign competition. More immediately, however, the fact that government is contemplating the removal of surcharges and duties on imported chicken should spur them into undertaking this kind of adjustment which would enhance their resilience to meet the coming competition from outside producers.

This, in fact, is the challenge which most of our manufacturing enterprises face with the inevitable expansion of the free trade movement. Increasing efficiency and productivity must become their primary objective, otherwise they may find themselves going under to the influx of more cheaply produced foreign products. The verdict may still be out on the overall economic effects of free trade and the question about which countries will benefit the most, but at the level of the consumer there seems little doubt that the increase in global competition will result in purchasers getting the best value for their money. If this is the effect it will have on poultry prices, then the legion of TT chicken eaters, at least, should have good reason to be clucking with satisfaction, if not glee.