Price reduction of about 13 food products confirmed by FCCC

The prices of edible oil, butter, liquid milk, powdered milk, baby milk, canned fish, corned meat, salt, margarine, tea leaves, potatoes, onions and garlic have gone down between August 2023 to April 2024.

This has been confirmed by the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The price of the 5 litre Simply Soyabean went down from $28.01 to $17.12, the price of 2 litre Health Plus Canola Oil from $8.04 to $7.64, 2 litre Health Plus Soyabean Oil went down from $8.12 to $7.66, 750ml Health Plus Soyabean Oil from $3.25 to $2.98 while 1 litre Simply Canola Oil went down from $5.35 to 3.62.

FCCC says the decrease in the price for edible oil is a direct result of the decrease in supplier cost per carton and the decrease in freight charges.

The price of 125g Jubilee and Hot Bread Kitchen Butter went down from $3.43 to $2.80 while 454g Jubilee and Hot Bread Kitchen Butter went down from $11.54 to $9.62.

FCCC says the decrease in the price of butter is attributed to the decrease in the landing cost by 19 percent together with the revision of allowance for Rewa Butter.

The price of 425g Blue Ocean Brand Canned Mackerel in Tomato Sauce went down from $1.97 to $1.88, 425g Blue Ocean Brand Canned Mackerel in Natural Oil reduced from $2.23 to $2.14, 425g Premium Island Mackerel in Natural Oil reduced from $2.56 to $1.85, 425g Premium Island Mackerel in Tomato Sauce went down from $1.81 to $1.75, 425g Domee Mackerel in Tomato Sauce reduced from $2.76 to $2.30, 425g Domee Mackerel in Natural Oil from $2.89 to $2.31, 142g Brunswick Tuna Flaked in Natural Oil from $1.79 to $1.71, 425g Rait Sardine in Tomato Sauce from $1.56 to $1.51, 425g Golden Ocean Mackerel in Natural Oil from $1.82 to $1.65, Colorado Mackerel in Tomato Sauce from 88 cents to 81 cents while the price of 425g Golden Ocean Mackerel in Tomato Sauce went down from $2.25 to $1.65.

They say the decrease in prices of canned fish is mainly attributed to the decrease in supplier costs but facing a significant decrease in freight.

FCCC says the duty of canned mackerel reduced from 32 percent to 15 percent which contributed heavily towards the price decrease.

The price of 1 litre Anchor UHT liquid milk went down from $3.08 to $2.96.

The decrease in the price of liquid milk is a direct result of the decrease in supplier cost per carton and the decrease in freight charges.

The price of 326g Palm Halal Corned Beef went down from $12.44 to $11.15 as a direct result of a slight weakening of the NZD currency.

The price of 1kg Nature Salt went down from 71 cents to 69 cents and the price of 1kg Perfect Choice Iodized Table Salt went down from 55 cents to 53 cents as a direct result of the decrease in freight charges by 34.78 percent which attributes 19 percent to their cost which was offset by the appreciation of the USD currency.

100g Royal Tea Classic went down from $1.43 to $1.34 while a 200g pack went down from $2.78 to $1.78.

The decrease in the price of tea leaves is a direct result of the decrease in the USD exchange rate as the supplier's unit cost remained fixed at US$106.31 while clearance cost and freight decrease have also been a contributing factor.

The price of Ali's Farm Fresh 1kg onion went down from $3.52 to $2.76 and 1kg potatoes from $3.36 to $3.13.

The price of New World 1kg onion reduced from $2.81 to $2.66 and 1kg potatoes from $3.10 to $2.88.

The price of Hardi Narayan 1kg potatoes reduced from $2.67 to $2.26 and 1kg garlic from $5.62 to $4.79.

The price of Rajendra Prasad 1kg garlic reduced from $6.04 to $5.88, 1kg onion from $2.67 to $2.60 and 1kg potatoes from $3.04 to $2.83.

The price of 1kg Hari Dayal and Sons garlic went down from $5.43 to $5.32.

Fresher Produce 1kg potatoes went down from $3.60 to $3.24 while 1kg onion went down from $3.58 to $3.09.

The price of 1kg Ramesh Investment potatoes went down from $2.78 to $2.56 and 1kg onion from $2.47 to $2.39.

The price of R.B Patel Group Ltd 1kg potatoes went down from $2.86 to $2.71 while the price of 1kg onion went down from $2.32 to $2.21.

The price of 1kg Cambridge Farms Ltd went down from $3.22 to $2.81.

FCCC says the reason for the price reduction of onions, potatoes and garlic is a direct result of the decrease in the supplier costs and the decrease in freight costs.

FCCC says if people believe that prices have gone up then they should report to the FCCC with details such as what items and where so that they can verify whether the items they are observing price increases in are for price-controlled items or non price-controlled items.

They say if it is for price-controlled items, members of the public can always access the master price list on their site and verify whether the traders are selling at the correct prices or if they are overcharging.