Vemco assures no price increase in pasta

Vemco Ltd, one of the biggest domestic manufacturers of pasta, has assured it will not be increasing its price for 2021.

In a statement, the company said it had noted concerns in the media about potential price increases.

It responded, "As a responsible local manufacturer, Vemco remains committed to providing quality products at competitive prices. We recognise that pasta is a basic food item for many consumers. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to assure the general public that based on current raw material pricing and exchange rates, Vemco will not be raising prices on our locally manufactured pasta products."

The controversy evolved from a protectionist position taken by the Ministry of Trade, acting with Caricom's approval, on a common external tariff on pasta. The 60 per cent import duty in TT was set out in Legal Notic 414 last December.

In a statement in the Senate, Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon emphasised, though, that there would be no price increase on pasta.

The tariff, she said was used to mitigate a situation in which the landed costs (total shipping charges with getting goods to and from their destination) relating to two of the ten main sources of pasta imports were going down, owing to substantial depreciation of foreign currencies.

She also noted that there was a "surge in imported pasta," with an annual local spend of $51 million since 2018.

In a response to Newsday on Sunday, she said pasta from Costa Rica and Guyana continue to enter the local market tariff free.

No price increase is expected, she added, and the Consumer Affairs Division will monitor this.