THE CONSUMER Affairs Commission (CAC) has backtracked on its position that there were significant price gouging by retail supermarkets after Hurricane Ivan.
The 11th-hour mea culpa has also resulted in the resignation of Raymond Pryce, director of research and information at the CAC.
In a release last night, the board of directors of the CAC said it had reprimanded Dolcie Allen, the agency's chief executive officer and members of the commission who were part of the price survey team.
According to the CAC board, it had found errors in the interpretation of the fieldwork carried out by the survey team in 50 outlets islandwide, which resulted in major inaccuracies. The survey had indicated up to a 500 per cent increase in the prices of tomatos, lettuce, cabbage and carrots at some supermarkets.
RECKLESS AND UNFORTUNATE
Already, commerce Minister Phillip Paulwell has apologised to retailers for the embarrassment, which had been caused by publishing information, which incorrectly accused them of price gouging.
Mr. Paulwell could not be reached for comment last night.
Meanwhile Wayne Chen, chief executive officer of the Super Plus Supermarket chain, one of the parties implicated in the survey, described as regrettable, the way the CAC handled the survey. "This is not a contest but it is unfortunate how things have turned," he said. "To make such a charge was reckless and unfortunate."
According to Mr. Chen, as part of its survey, the CAC should have taken into consideration the prices at which retailers had bought their produce.
Last Friday, the commerce minister had met with three of the retailers who had outlined that they had not increased their profit margins after the hurricane.
