Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
CONSUMERS SHOULD brace for a price hike in baked products, the Bakers Association of Jamaica (BAJ) has warned.
The announcement comes on the heels of Jamaica Cane Products Sales Limited's statement last Friday, which informed retailers that the price for brown and refined sugar had been increased with immediate effect.
Mindful of the cost to the consumer given the economic climate, the BAJ was, however, unable to put a dollar figure on the increase.
"It is not customary for the association to determine the price ... Each baker will have to determine what their market can bear," BAJ President Clarence Chin explained. "What we do know is that the raw materials have got very high and that most people are looking at prices."
Among the baked products expected to increase are bun, bulla, cake and bread.
According to Gerry Chambers, past president of the BAJ, Friday's hike is the second sugar hike in three months and the bakers can no longer afford to absorb the increased cost of sugar.
"In December sugar went up by 15.3 per cent ... and another 15.5 per cent went on last Friday. This gives the cumulative effect of a 30.8 per cent increase in between December and now," he said.
COSTS HAVE TO BE PASSED ON
"What this really boils down to is that since December sugar has gone up by $18,000 per tonne," Mr. Chambers continued. "Therefore, a person who buys a tonne of sugar per week for 50 weeks would have to spend nearly $500,000 more - those costs will have to be passed on."
