In response to the announcement of an increase in flour prices by National Flour Mills, the Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT) said it has noted that trends in the industry leading up to the Christmas period have revealed a 5 to 10% decrease in sales, coupled with an average 25% increase in prices, thus painting a picture of static consumption patterns.
The Association said downtrading is also revealing patterns of brand loyalty abandonment with customers seeking more avenues to stretch the value of their dollar. It said NFM like any other commercial entity has to operate within the confines of its operations being able to manage its inputs, overheads and so forth.
SATT said the perfect storm alluded to in this is a conflagration of exigencies, including supply chain disruption, adverse yields, loss of cycles of production, decreased access to inputs and increased prices of raw materials.