Flour, sharp prices up
Friday September 07, 2007

People in Fiji will be paying more for flour and sharp (for 4kg packs and above) from today following increases in cost of raw materials, the Prices and Incomes Board says.

However, prices for 1kg and 2kg flour and sharps packs have fallen, clearly targeted to ease the burden on the poor.

For instance, a 2kg flour (normal) pack price is now $1.89, down from $1.96 previously while a 1kg flour pack is now $1.02, previously $1.38.

On the other hand, a 4kg normal flour pack has increased by 2 cents to $3.88, a 5kg pack is up 5 cents to $4.65, while a 10 kg pack is up 52 cents to $9.40.

For sharps, a 1kg pack is now $1.03, down from $1.38 and a 2kg pack is now $1.90, down from $1.96.

However, a 4kg sharps pack has increased by 3 cents to $3.89, a 5kg pack is up 7 cents to $4.67, while a 10kg pack is up 56 cents to $9.44.

Earlier, Flour Mills of Fiji (the major distributors of flour and sharps in the country) had complained that while wheat prices had increased world wide they could not pass on the costs to consumers because the prices are controlled by PIB and was affecting their bottom line.

"There was inaction on the part of the PIB to adjust itself to the rising wheat prices. And while it is an essential commodity segment, we can't just pass on the increase in cost of wheat to final consumers," chief financial officer and group company secretary Kumar Shankar had said.

However, Shankar says the PIB has now set up a pricing template which would operate on an automatic basis.

He says that first quarter wheat prices is set for the next three months, and PIB will only come in when there is a trigger of more than a certain percentage.

"So it is an automatic process, and in this we won't wait for PIB to sanction certain prices," he said.