To reflect international rises in the price of wheat and the consequent rise in the price of flour, a basic ingredient of breakfast crackers, the price of the 5kg plastic pail of FMF Breakfast Crackers will go up by twelve per cent from next week.
The twelve per cent rise means that consumers will now pay $2.79 extra but fortunately this rise only applies to the 5kg plastic pail packaging [the bucket] of the FMF Breakfast Crackers.
The price for other quantities of FMF Breakfast Crackers remains unchanged.
The increase has been made on the recommendation of the Fiji Commerce Commission. It comes into effect from Monday, 14 January 2013.
The Attorney-General and Minister for Industry and Trade, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, described the rise as unfortunate but said it reflected rising costs in the international market for wheat and was beyond Fiji's control.
“These market fluctuations represent 20 per cent of the cost of making these biscuits", he said.
The Minister stressed, however, that the Bainimarama Government was committed to maintaining price controls on breakfast crackers because they were a staple of the family diet.
"We need to protect consumers from unrealistic or unjustified price increases and will continue to do so,” he said.
The Minister said that the Government would continue to monitor the biscuit market to ensure the best value for Fijian families. “Their price increases are appropriate for current market conditions but we are committed to do what we can to relieve the cost of living burden on all Fijians", the Minister added.
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