5 Nov 2010

Fiji consumers set to see a price reduction for some basic household items

8:25 am on 5 November 2010

Consumers in Fiji are to see a significant price reduction for more than 20 basic household items from tomorrow.

Under a new Price Control Order, the Commerce Commission has lowered the price of 23 basic household items.

These include garlic, edible oil, powdered milk and liquid milk which will see a 12 percent drop in price, with a 14 percent reduction for rice, ten percent for margarine and butter and a 20 percent reduction for noodles.

The chairman of the Commerce Commission, Dr Mahendra Reddy, says the commission examined the market for basic food items and found that prices were exorbitantly high.

"Particularly prices of goods which are entering the country duty-free. The primary reason government made these goods enter into the country duty-free was to ensure that that duty free price was passed on to the consumers. However the commission that that was not the case, it was not being passed on to consumers."

He says the lower prices can only be positive news for families who can channel their savings towards education, housing or clothing expenses.