FCCC tells businesses to pass down tax and duty reductions to consumers

Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission CEO, Joel Abraham says they have already started work to ensure that duty and tax reductions announced in the 2020/2021 National Budget are passed down to the consumers.

Abraham says the new prices for alcohol are effective from Saturday July 18th and the retailers should be dropping the prices from the time they get the new stock from alcohol brewing companies while prices of other items are expected to drop from August 1st this year.

Abraham says they will also assess the landed cost of materials that contribute to the input cost of goods. He says if the duty for syrup is reduced and this is used for fizzy drinks, they will assess how the reduction is factored in.

He also says that businesses should not misrepresent to consumers and do not pocket the benefits from the reduction of other taxes.

They will assess the supply chain to ensure the duty is passed on the importer, the wholesaler, the retailer and the consumer.

He says there are certain goods that are kept in bonded houses and the cost of these goods will come down when that happens.

Abraham stresses that they will do fair assessments for the businesses and consumers.

He also says the commission knows the alcohol companies have released their VAT Inclusive factory prices, and the retailers are expected to put their mark ups and then set the retail prices.

The best prices are expected to be determined by competition, location of the retailers, size of the businesses and the costs associated with it and the mark up percentages.