Businesses foresee no Christmas food shortages

The retail, distribution and agricultural industries do not expect food shortages in the final quarter of this year, but have raised concerns that uncertainty around global shipping and local weather conditions could affect supplies of critical commodities, their leaders said on Tuesday.

President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Paul Inniss told Barbados TODAY the biggest concern at this stage was not the availability of goods, but consumer demand.

He said: “From the feedback we have received from members of the BCCI’s retail and distribution sector, businesses are actively preparing for the year-end trading period and, at this stage, appear to be reasonably well positioned to meet the expected demand.”