Local farmers have been encouraged by Government to pursue areas where there is enormous potential to meet the demand that’s placed in the market.
This follows the announcement by the Attorney General and Minister for Industry & Trade, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on the revision of the price control list today.
Speaking at a press conference, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum announced the various items that would be removed from the price control list including masala tea, imported sheep meat, ghee and Rewa products in the wholesale area.
Clarifying prices on Rewa Dairy products, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said that the retail prices on Rewa Dairy or Fiji Dairy products such as milk will remain.
“In order to encourage the suppliers of milk in the dairy industry, the price control on wholesale factory will be removed but there will still be price control on retailing so consumers will still be protected and at the same time we will have in place a system whereby Fiji Dairy will be able to respond to global fluctuating prices,” he said.
The Minister relayed that while Fijians consumed 77 million litres of milk every year, the dairy industry only produced 11 million litres of milk.
“If milk prices change within a few weeks, we want Fiji Dairy to have a level of flexibility to be able to respond to these prices and also give the farmers the ability to get better pricing for milk.
“The rationale behind the removal of non essential items from the price control list also indicates a continuous review by the Commerce Commission in the market, “ he said.
The new price changes come into effect on Monday.