The dramatic increase in prices for all Solomon Taiyo products is affecting the budget of many households in the country.
All prices for Solomon Taiyo products were increased by 30 percent as of 7th April, 2008.According to the company's Sales Manager, the increase involves all sizes and kinds of tuna such as Solomon Blue, Solomon Blue Special, Skipjack Tuna in Brine, Skipjack Tuna in Oil, Chili Tuna, Curry Tuna, Curry Flakes and Fishmeal.
The Manager of Sales Department Soltai told National Express that the increase occurred because most of the materials used are imported from other countries like tin labels, Soya bean oil to name a few.
He added that all the ingredients and fuel have gone up causing the prices of the canned tuna to also increase.
The Manager said they don't know how to control the cost since the freight of the containers increases forth-nightly, which was done according to the world fuel price.
"This is the first time we raised our prices since April 2006. We could no longer hold on the same prices because the costs of freights on the ship and the imported ingredients and the Bunkering Adjustment Fees (BAF) have all gone up."
He said price looks set to remain through the year, but this depends on how things go to next year.