Rumoured food shortage fuels panic buying

With news that flour prices are set to increase by over 30 per cent come Tuesday, and rumours of shortages of rice and flour, consumers in Trinidad have begun panic buying.

As a result, supermarket shelves for items such as flour, rice, baking powder, and macaroni have been empty across the country. Consumers have also blamed the empty shelves on hording activity by supermarket owners.

Rising food prices are a global phenomenon, and with wheat prices rising steadily, Trinidad, which imports all of its wheat, is experiencing almost weekly price increases.

Adding to the issue is the Nutrimix's closure of one of its facilities for cleaning. Nutrimix is one of two flour producers in the country, the other being the National Flour Mills. The closure of Nutrimix's plant resulted in rumours of a flour shortage, which resulted in panic buying. In one case, a supermarket owner limted the purchase of 100kg bags of flour to one per person, on the condition they were buying other items.

With flour prices set to increase, the price of bread is expected to reach as much as $10. Already consumers seemed to have stopped buying commercial bread which remained stocked on supermarket shelves.