Trade and Industry Minister Conrad Enill says calls for the Government to impose price control on food are by and large impractical. According to Enill, just about the most the Government could do is drop the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the product and hope it would be reflected in the new price the consumer is asked to pay. “The thing about it is today we no longer have the ability to put price controls on goods, based on market conditions,” said Enill. Business places, however, could decide to try to attract more customers to spend their money in a bid to offer their products at a lower price than their rivals in the business community.

“To put price controls into place would be a difficult thing for the Government to manage,” Enill said as he commented on the call by respondents in an Ansa McAl poll who overwhelmingly demanded the Government legislate food prices. As Enill put it: “There is no mechanism in place. If the price of oil goes to US$140 and oil is an input in a product, how do you control the price of that product?” He said some business people in trying to give their customers a better deal in terms of prices would buy into a long-term control, say buy the products for the next year at a fixed price.

“If the price changes the business concern is locked into a contract. How can you control that?” Enill asked. As he put it: “The only way is if the Government decides to subsidise all food items, which is not practical. “If you decide to shop at Hi-Lo, St Augustine which has security, coffee and tea, clearly this is going to be reflected in the prices of items on sale. “If you go to Frederick Street to a little market, there is bound to be a price difference. “The question of price control is really only where Government takes off VAT on a product.

“That is the only element of price control from which the population could expect to get a benefit. If you don’t see a benefit then you could legislate on that.” Meanwhile, Legal Affairs Minister Peter Taylor told the Sunday Guardian that price control would give rise to black marketing because if retailers felt they were not getting a fair price for their products they would make it artificially scarce. That would create another problem since only those who could afford would be able to buy. The Government, he said, does not have control over shipping and transportation costs so it would be unfair to try to control the end cost of a product.