April 08 2011 -- Vice President Danny Faure has said that the government remains committed to ensure the country always has a reasonable stock of food in reserve so as to keep prices stable for the benefit of consumers, Vice-President Danny Faure has said.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday in his capacity as Minister for Finance, Mr Faure said this will be done by maintaining the Seychelles Trading Company (STC).

He said the STC will continue to absorb the cost to ensure prices of basic commodities like rice, sugar and cooking oil on Praslin and La Digue are the same as on Mahe. This comes at a cost of R500,000 per month.

With regard to the country's basic food reserves, Mr Faure said since December 31 last year, the STC warehouses has a stock of commodities worth R146 million, representing three months' consumption. 

He further noted that the STC has rice, sugar and oil in stock for a period of four months.

He reassured assembly members that as a result of some good planning, the STC will ensure the country will have basic commodities at affordable prices.

Mr Faure made these announcements amid continued increases in the price of food on the world market.

Minister Faure said we are concerned by the hikes in food prices as the country depends a lot on imported food and agricultural products.

He said any instability in world food prices will have an impact on local prices.

"But through carefully planned policies, we can reduce the impact of these increases on our people," Mr Faure said.

He stressed that the STC, as the main mechanism in place, is playing a bigger role protecting local consumers from these price hikes.

"The company is playing that role effectively and without any negative impact on the country's budget," said Mr Faure.
He said the process is difficult, complicated and has many risks.

"Keeping large reserves of commodities is risky as it could be damaged completely by humidity, pests, fire or flooding. The stock requires constant inspection," he said.

The STC has been requested to put in place storing facilities in the south of Mahe and on Praslin to reduce the impact of any of these risks should they affect its main warehouses in Victoria.

Mr Faure noted that piracy is an added threat to food cargoes arriving to our port. But he pointed out that while we continue to address this scourge in various ways, we have to also take into account the fact that having a larger reserve can also protect us from late delivery due to supply and transportation hitches.
 
Mr Faure said the instability in world food prices has created a lot of uncertainty about food supply.