Email

Print

Well, the local rice producers decided to go public today to tell the customers that Charles has it all wrong. They say they're not the ones taking advantage of consumers, it's the retailers - your neighborhood grocer - who is price gouging. They held a press conference today where Dr. Henry Canton, the president of the Agro-Productive Sector explained that position today:

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"Rice has a price control of 90 cents, whether it's wholesale or retail - it's still debatable. By word of mouth, we understand its 90 cents per pound is a wholesale price. Most of the rice coming out or the hands of these gentlemen is price controlled and right now as we speak, rice is being sold below the 90 cents, which is the price control and in fact rice is being offered right now currently I think out of Spanish Lookout community as low as 84 cents. There is a surplus of rice even in our country. So, it's not that we are "gouging." The word "gouging" is being used and I want to be very clear in removing that word "gouging." What happens to us with rice, is that when we sell it in a hundred pound bag and most of our bags are labeled from where it is coming. That rice is then taken into the retailers' house and repackaged. We don't know - plastic bags - you go and you buy it. They tell you 9 pounds, it might be 8 pounds - nobody ever checks it and it is sold at $1.20 - $1.25. So what is happening with our rice, is that we are selling it within the confines of the price control, but then we have a mark-up for public transportation etc. and then a further mark-up going into the retail market and that's where, if you really look at it, that's where the discrepancy in who gets the lion share of the mark that comes out."

"We feel that we are being scrutinized on price control and how much we are producing it for. But nobody is really scrutinizing - once they buy it from us - how the mark-up structure is put in place."

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez - President, Belize Chamber of Commerce Industry
"While they may not be able to stop the importation of rice, I think we need to look at the long term and I think government do have a responsibility of protecting the producers. I know that they have been working together to see how best they can produce at a cheaper price, but I think that negotiations continues. However, the Chamber really is lobbies for its members, but it keeps of course, consideration on the consumer as well and I think the bottom line here really is as Dr. Canton has mentioned also is, there is a price control on the productive side of the thing, but not on the retail side and I think that's really where the problem is. You can sell rice for whatever price you want, I understand."

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"Agro-productive Sector is visited more than you believe. We live with BAHA and we live with everybody else, because we are the easiest people for them to come to. It's more difficult for them to go to every little shop and check the change. So, the first person they come to, is the biggest person...let me audit."

Government has refused to issue a permit to importer Jack Charles - who has half a million pounds of rice waiting to be shipped from Guyana.

He finds that position puzzling since the Government allowed the local producers to import just over 3 million pounds from Guyana last year.

Today, the rice producers explained that what happened last year was an emergency situation because of a drought affecting the Blue Creek rice farmers. And so they had to import from Guyana to avoid a local shortage:

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"A year ago, somewhere in early 2014 and I can speak to it because I was an integral part of it - the rice community realized that there was going to be a shortage of rice, because in that year, Spanish Lookout had a good crop of rice, but Blue Creek had a drought and in fact their rice crop failed. So, we realized that somewhere going into off-season rice that we may have had a problem with supplying the country of Belize consistently with rice. That rice when it came in, came in as bulk rice, not bagged rice. So, it had to be off loaded in bulk. It was then taken to Blue Creek, transportation cost from the ship to Blue Creek. It had to be reprocessed and Stanley can share with you pictures of what that rice looked like when it came and what he found in it; fortified iron, in screws and nails."

Daniel Ortiz
"The invoice says Guyana White Rice, which means that it's already processed - all the work has been done on it and it was supposedly ready to be consumed. Why is it that you are saying that it had to be reprocessed and it had to be repackaged?"

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"Everybody that buys rice, don't like to buy in sacks. They want to sell you bulk, because it's cheaper on shipping and everything else. When that rice is loaded into the ship, even rats and everything else can go into that ship and that's why it had to be reprocessed."

Stanley Rempel - General Manager, Circle R Products
"Yes. That rice was imported as bulk white rice. We could have put that rice on the market, but we have to keep in mind that we would like to guarantee a product that the consumer accepts. We can't just put whatever product on the shelf and expect the consumer to buy it. We have pictures, if you want to see it of what all came out of that rice. First of all, there was a lot of shells in the rice, which had to be taken out. We have buckets of screws and nails and rocks and dirt and filth that came out, that I am sure no consumer would like to see in their bag of rice."

Jerry Friezen - Rice Farmer, Spanish Lookout
"The local is a very premium rice and so, there was a huge expense in processing that to the standards that we have in place. So, yes, if you are satisfied with the grade that it is brought in, imported it could make money if they would sell it for the same premium price that our rice is."

And while it's interesting to know that what we thought was local rice was really from Guyana - none of this discussion or disclosure would be happening if Jack Charles didn't decide to go public with his plan to drive down prices by importing from Guyana.

That rice was imported by the Belize Marketing And Development Corporation, for a price of 63 cents per pound. Then to get the rice, the local importers had to purchase it from the BMDC for an additional 6 cents per pound. They then packaged that rice in local bags such as the Circle R Products packaging, and sold it for the control price of 90 cents per pound. That means they made an average profit of about 21 cents per bag. Still you paid their price, giving the local producers 21 cents in profit, and an additional 30 cents to the shops. Bottom line? The consumers still didn't benefit from the cheap imported rice, which they didn't even know about, so today we asked the local producers why they didn't disclose this information to the public before now. Here's how they answered:

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"So, yes the Guyanese rice was repackage, but it was reprocessed, repackaged and sent into the market. Guyanese rice was brought in through the Marketing Board (BMDC). We bought from BMDC. We paid $6.00 for 100 pounds to bring it in. Yes, maybe in hindsight now we should have made a statement on it, but I think if we are to be guilty on that, then BMDC also should have been guilty in not declaring that we had to import to meet a shortfall."

"The rice we brought in was rice that we had to bring in that fitted within the category of the price that we were selling rice for at that point in time and that's why you didn't see any dance within the price of rice. But if you say we didn't labeled it Guyanese, mea culpa, but I think that point in time BMDC should have said also that we had this stipulation or regulation that we should have been informed. Next time that won't happen. Next time guarantee us that if we ever have to bring back in again, I will be the first person to sit in front of you and say this is what we are experiencing and this is how we are going to handle it."

So, what does all of this mean for you the consumer? Well, the producers say that the retailers are the culprits. They are calling on the government agencies responsible for consumer protection and price control to rein in the price gouging by the shop owners:

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"We are not the retailers. We are the producers. We are not the ones that are creaming. It's the retailers; the people that buy at 90 cents and are selling at $1.25 that are creaming. For some reason out there is this image that it's the gentlemen that are growing that are making all the money. The people who are making the money are the same people who do the importation trick. What we are asking is look at us when it comes to price control from the productive side, but start looking at the man that's selling it. Is it 10, 9 or 8 pounds in that plastic bag that you are buying? Is he buying at 90 cents and selling at $1.25 - that's a hell of a mark-up, when we are only making 5 or 10 cents on our pound of rice. It's not us that are gouging."

Daniel Ortiz
"If I understand clearly what you guys mentioned today, it appears to be regulation issue for the local retailers, where whichever government entity is responsible for consumer protection and price regulation - they haven't been doing their jobs. It seems that you said that without saying that you aren't responsible."

Dr. Henry Canton - Chair, Belize Agro-productive Sector
"I will say that openly. I say, the same way you check, check the market place."

This evening, importer Jack Charles sent a press release saying quote, "I am convinced...that competition results in a stronger and sustainable national industry. This can be achieved by allowing a small percentage of the total rice consumed in Belize, to be imported as an act of good faith and in respect to our obligations under the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and continue to serve as a check and balance for our rice producers, not to abuse the Price Control mechanisms."

He ends by going into full Robin Hood mode, saying, "Finally, I would like to apologize to the public for having overlooked the rice prices earlier last year and in previous years, which could have resulted in savings of several millions of dollars to Belizean rice consumers."