Barbadians to experience hike in food bills

The retail prices of the daily use products have expected to rise in Barbados. Now the Barbadians might experience a hike in their bill while buying these essential products.

As the citizens of Barbados, the people on the island had faced a significant hike in petrol prices a few days back. At the same time, the prices of animal feed would increase by 20 per cent.

According to some statements by the local producers, the products that include meat, processed meat-related products, and prices of some vegetables has also been expecting a hike in their price.

The government has ended its three-month-long subsidy to the Lower Estate, St Michael manufacturing company, and Pinnacle Feeds Ltd, the country’s leading manufacturer of most livestock feeds, blaming the “unprecedented increases” in the world prices raw materials and freight. Pinnacle Feeds is a division of Roberts Manufacturing.

In a statement published today, Jason Sambrano, the managing director of Roberts Manufacturing, stated that the price hike would come into effect tomorrow. According to the statement, he said that price changes would vary on the quality of the feed product. The decision was tough, as the government understands the significant challenges that would be continuously affecting all Barbadians because of the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the decision has been made.

Sambrano, while giving a presentation with the help of a graph to visualize the hike in the prices of key inputs used in the feed manufacturing process, said that like every other feed manufacturer within the region, Pinnacle Feeds was absorbing the increases for several months, hoping the trajectory of prices would change.

Sambrano said, “They continue to trade at elevated levels. The continued increases in raw material costs and freight are beyond our ability to continue to offset, and as such, a price adjustment will be put in place from August 9. At that date, the average increase of our feed will be 19 per cent, which is the minimum increase needed to keep our manufacturing operations sustainable.”