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Price for flour up by 15 percent – NAMILCO
Kaieteur News – As the war between Ukraine and Russia continues, fuel prices and food costs have escalated around the world, with customers in Guyana beginning to feel such effects over the past week.
The new price for flour, as seen in one of the city supermarkets
But the fallout between the two neighbouring states in Europe is poised to have further impacts, as the cost for wheat has also gone up by a whopping 40 percent, thereby impacting the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) which was forced to announce a 15 percent increase in its products over the weekend.
The company in the daily newspapers said, “Manufacturing companies worldwide are experiencing unprecedented increases in the costs of raw materials, freight, packaging materials, energy, and other inputs…the price of wheat today is 40 percent higher than it was on February 15, 2022 just three weeks ago. During this period, we have also seen increases in the cost of packaging, additives, and just recently, fuel.”
As a consequence, NAMILCO said it can no longer sustain its operations at the current price for flour. In this regard, the milling company said it must increase its prices by 15 percent with immediate effect, to ensure the continued supply of the important commodities.
“We will work at leveraging economies of scale available to us (through wheat vessel ownership) to mitigate some of the adverse impacts of freight logistics, market access and raw material supply,” the company assured.
It said too that last year when Guyana was impacted by rising costs, NAMILCO absorbed these escalations and avoided passing the costs to its customers, however no other option is left in this specific circumstance.
On Saturday, when Kaieteur News visited a few grocery stores around the capital city, the increase was evident as the price for flour reached as much as $400 and $460 from its previous price of $280.
This publication observed some elderly customers discussing the food price increases in the aisle of a supermarket, even as their baskets remained with few items, presumably in their bid to keep within their budget, amid the climbing inflation rate.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in sanctions being imposed against Russia, which has impacted the cost of fuel and wheat as the country is a global supplier of both commodities.
This past week, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) also said it was struggling to keep the agency afloat as the cost for fuel has increased thereby driving up its operation costs.
GPL complained that fuel prices have reached US$140 per barrel, thus driving up the company’s operating expense to a whopping $4.5 billion monthly, while electricity sales merely account for $3 billion.
The power company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Bharat Dindyal, during an exclusive interview with this publication on Tuesday told reported that while this increase is not presently being reflected on customers’ bills, it may very well be an option if the electricity consumption is not reduced.
This increase would however, have to be first approved by the Power Utilities Commission (PUC) before being imposed.
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