One week to drop prices ...or else

Government yesterday gave local poultry farmers exactly one week to reduce their prices “to an acceptable level” or else face the dire consequences of the removal of the surcharge on imported chicken.

Without the surcharge, which is currently 88 per cent, local producers would be unable to compete with imported chicken, which would be available at a much cheaper price. Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, in making the announcement at a post-Cabinet conference, stressed that Government had no intention of damaging the poultry industry but stressed “that we have an overriding responsibility to ensure that consumers are not taken advantage of and that a cartel or monopoly does not develop in Trinidad and Tobago.” Robinson-Regis said the Ministries of Trade, Legal Affairs and Agriculture would determine what is an acceptable price level and would be monitoring what is taking place this week. She urged the media to also monitor what is happening with the prices. She said that unless the reductions were across the board by all producers, Government would implement the decision to remove the surcharge. She added that Government, in making its decision, considered the implications (of the removal of the surcharge) for the 10,000 employed in the industry. She stressed, however, that any removal of the surcharge would only be for a short period — just to get the price at an acceptable level.

Asked whether Government was employing “strong-arm tactics” and “interfering with the private sector,” Prime Minister Patrick Manning said that when Government imposed the surcharge (plus an additional import duty of 40 per cent) in order to protect the local industry, it never meant to create a monopoly situation in which the consumer was the net loser. “The minute therefore that the arrangement begins to work that way, it is working in a manner that is contrary to Government’s policy and the Government has a responsibility to act in the national interest,” he said. Noting that Government’s intervention (via the removal of the surcharge) would in effect be regulating the price of chicken, Manning said Government was determined to ensure that the price was at a reasonable level. He said the collapse of the local industry did not arise since Government was seeking to prevent “profiteering” rather than seeking to bring about the “collapse” of the local industry. Asked what would happen if consumers got so sweet on low prices during the period that the surcharge is removed that they (the consumers) agitate for the permanent removal of it, Robinson-Regis said that was a risk. But she stressed that Government’s aim is to act in the interest of all people, including those involved in the local poultry industry. (See page 6).