The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net’

Food stores yesterday said food prices have risen by at least ten percent since last year amid forecasts that increases could last well into 2022.

Atwell Ferguson, Golden Gates Supermarket’s general manager, told Tribune Business that while the price of meats has increased, groceries have “not as yet” followed. He expects prices for the latter commodities to start increasing as well.

Reacting to predictions made by Rupert Roberts, Super Value’s principal, that Bahamian consumers must brace for an eight to 12 percent increase in food prices by this Christmas, Mr Ferguson also said: “I have seen an increase of at least ten percent already from last year June.

“The meats started to rise even more after the hackers shut down the US meat industry and one of the major meat suppliers.” A cyberattack on JBS SA, the largest meat producer globally, forced the shutdown of all its US beef plants, wiping out output from facilities that supply almost a quarter of the American market.

All of the company’s US fed-beef and regional beef plants were forced to shutter, and all other JBS meatpacking facilities in the US experienced some level of disruption to operations.

Cyril Carey, general manager of Kenneth’s Food Store, Prince Charles Drive, said: “I’ve seen price increases. A couple of months back prices started climbing on everything. Some things are hard to source; that’s the big problem.”

Suppliers have been telling Mr Carey they expect prices to continue to rise well into 2022. “Whenever we see the price in gas climb to where it’s at now, everything tends to follow behind that,” he added.