Bakers' cartel formation is illegal

August 04, 2011 12:25 PM

Bakers are not allowed to make price agreements between themselves. Cartel formation is illegal, Minister Abdul Nasser El Hakim of Economic Development (MFK) said today during a press conference in response to the price-rise of bread.

Nevertheless, the bakers are free to determine the prices of bread themselves with the exception of bread falling under a maximum price.

The government cannot take any action against the price agreements because Curaçao does not have a competition law yet.

According to Zulaika Mook, sector director of Economic Development and Innovation, the government will soon introduce a law on competition. The government will also consider whether a competition law is desirable and in which form. According to her, competition must occur in a healthy manner. “An agreement between companies meant to reduce the competition amongst each other is not desirable and generally not accepted”, says Mook.

In protest against the maximum price for bread prepared with water, the bakers have stopped selling the cheaper bread since Monday. According to the bakers, the price was never adjusted since 1996. Taking into consideration the price for the cheaper bread, the bakers were forced to keep the prices low – at the expense of their own management. On the initiative of the Association for Bakeries, the bakers recently put their heads together in order to solve this problem with the consequence that they increased the prices of bread last Tuesday. A brown bread of 500 grams increased with 50 cents. According to the bakers, poverty reigns in the bakers’ world. Many bakeries can hardly survive due to the increase of production costs. In particular, the bakers no longer wish to subsidize the bread that is prepared with water.

According to the bakers, the government always neglected the dire situation of the bakeries. In April, the association sent letters to the Ministry of Economic Development. They never received an answer to these letters. Keithley Hooker of the Association of the Curaçao Bakers says they received a telephone call yesterday for the first time. The Minister will meet with the bakers within short to discuss amongst others a new maximum price for bread. In addition, the Minister wants to expand the number of bread products for which a maximum price applies. At that time, parties will also discuss the most popular and healthy brands of bread.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

4 August 2011