Over the past four years, the price of flour has seen frequent fluctuations.
In 2021, two of the country’s major flour producers announced increases in the prices of their products, as much as 33 per cent in some instances and the first such move in several years.
TT's flour industry has three main players – majority state-owned National Flour Mills and privately operated Nutrimix and Sheik Lisha.
They produce general baking and speciality flour such as cake and whole wheat flour. While these products are manufactured locally, the grain used in the manufacturing is imported.
In May, Nutrimix announced up to a 17 per cent reduction in their retail flour prices. Sheik Lisha said it reduced prices on March 26, and National Flour Mills (NFM) said it had reduced the cost of retail flour products on May 1 across the entire range of retail products. It added the company had been reducing prices since Christmas 2023.
In a September 2022 post to NFM’s website called, From Wheat to Flour at National Flour Mills, it said the company imports over 100,000 metric tons of wheat annually from the US and Canada.
More recently, NFM’s CEO Ian Mitchell told Business Day the price of flour is determined by the cost of wheat as traded on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, with the cost of freight being an additional price determinant. This leaves the market open to exogenous shocks that have been rocking custome
rs pockets.
In a June 2022 Newsday report, Mitchell attributed its then 33 per cent price hike to the crisis in Ukraine and grain exporting nations halting wheat exports.
He explained that this caused shipments to be purchased at record-high prices.
Director of Sheik Lisha Azard Akaloo, in a recent email exchange, said the weather also plays a key role in the price of flour.
He explained, “Due to climate change in the recent years and the unpredictable changes, the hotter and drier the atmosphere gets, the more difficulty is placed upon the wheat farm industry. This can, therefore, cause the cost of wheat to increase and, furthermore, the cost of flour.”
[caption id="attachment_1089623" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Monica Daize puts a pack of Lotus All Purpose flour in her grocery cart, at Tru Value supermarket, Long Circular Mall, St James on May 28. - FILE PHOTO[/caption]
He said, “A product simply cannot be sold for less than it costs to manufacture, process and be transported.”
As flour makes its way through the supply chain to the customer, price markups are inevitable.
Bulk buying keeps prices low
Supermarket Association head Rajiv Diptee said on the retail end, the size of the supermarket and its ability to purchase in larger quantities is one of the main contributors to the cost of flour in different supermarkets.
Despite this, he said differences in prices among various supermarkets may not be very striking, as flour, similar to other staple items like rice and sugar, is sold by everyone, making it competitive and thus attracting generally small markups.
