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BMDC Explains Its Pricing Structure on Imported Produce

Valentin Carrillo

BMDC Explains Its Pricing Structure on Imported Produce

Carrillo further noted that the Belize Marketing and Development Corporation does not receive subventions from the Government of Belize. He says the corporation’s finances are managed autonomously. And, because of this, there are certain overhead costs that they must meet from the profits they obtain. Carrillo sought to ensure Belizeans that they only mark up their prices by twelve to fifteen percent.

 

Valentin Carrillo, Administrator, BMDC

“Each head of lettuce is labeled with one of our labels and that is extra cost in the Mexican side. They have to open each case and a case brings twenty-four. If we bring, imagine, fifty cases, seventy-five, each case has to be opened and labeled individually for us only. And we are not a big wholesale. In Mexico when they export those people are exporting by containers and we import only cases. So it brings a heavy cost to us, but to meet certain standards we have to do it.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Is that to say that the prices quoted in the ad are accurate or close to correct?”

 

Valentin Carrillo

“They are not accurate. Some of those things, I saw in the ad it says in bulco and in Mexico a bulco is a bag and it comes different for Mexican than for us and in Mexico we buy in case and that is specific for us to meet some of our standard. A part from that let us say the price is similar. We have duties to pay which we cannot avoid. We have freight to pay. We have Mexican fees to pay and we have Belize fees also a part from the duty. For example on the Mexican side we have loading fees, phytosanitary fees that is on the Mexican side. The loading and unloading is very heavy over there. On the Belize side we have local fees, landing permit, border management fees, BAHA permit fees, freight also. All of these things it comes to a good amount when you add it up. This is the best price. We mark up at twelve percent, fifteen percent. Remember these are perishable goods that they would not last. We import Mondays and Thursdays. These things, if you just leave them, the broccoli we bring in Mondays the wholesalers don’t want to buy those Thursdays and you can interview anyone and you can see we have left with certain commodities. We try to play and make a balance between one and the next, but not to increase the price so much, but it is not more than fifteen percent.”

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