ORANJESTAD — Vegetables and fruit are scarce in the super markets since last week. This is directly due to the rationing policy of Venezuela.
NEWS ARTICLE TAKEN FROM WWW.AMIGOE.COM
As far back as 2007, that country regulates the export of vegetables and fruit to give preference to the internal demand, by their own account.
As a consequence of this regulation, there were no consignments of vegetables and fruit from Las Piedras to Aruba last week. The shelves in all super markets had become empty. "It is very unpleasant", says the owner of a super market who wishes to remain nameless. "All super markets are suffering from this. Everyone depends on the supply of fruit from Venezuela. There were no pumpkins, no cooking bananas and no tomatoes last week. It is not that easy to get these products elsewhere either. Bananas and cooking bananas for example cannot be deep-frozen."
Ship
However, a consignment of vegetables and fruit arrived at the harbor of Barcadera again yesterday. The usual fresh goods were available at a large number of super markets around noon. Amigoe spoke with Osvaldo Paz, captain of the cargo ship El Maracucho at Barcadera. Just like all other ships, his ship comes to Aruba twice a week from Las Piedras. "We were not given permission to sail to Aruba last week." He presents a number of signed certificates, which for example mentions the indicated number of kilos of a certain product he may ship to Aruba from the Venezuelan government. For limes, this is 500 kilos. "That amounts to twenty boxes. There is a different stipulated quantity for each product. Sometimes no certificates at all are granted for certain products for a long period." In this, it regards the so-called certificado de demanda interna satisfecha. With this, the Venezuelan has been regulating not only the export of vegetables and fruit, but also fish, rice, grains, cheese, coffee and all other exportable products from that country since 2007. According to Paz, this measure not only keeps the prices up systematically, but also encourages the smuggling of these goods.
More expensive
Just like Paz, almost every super market co-worker and owner with whom Amigoe had spoken yesterday, from 88 Foodstore in Santa Cruz and Rei Hing in Pos Chiquito up to Ling & Sons, expects the prices for vegetables and fruit to increase even further. The super markets are currently investigating the possible import from the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, at the time of going to press of this edition, one did not succeed in getting a response from the Minister of Economical Affairs, Social Affairs and Culture, Michelle Winklaar (AVP).
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