It is not my pleasure to give the Labour Party any credit and hopefully, they get absolutely destroyed in the coming general elections. However, I am also trying to do my work objectively as I find stories that are relevant and important.
I’ve called Alex Agius Saliba to ask him what he’s actually doing with the complaint to the EU Commission about major Maltese food importers. I’ve asked him to whom is the complaint directed and he didn’t mention any names, but he stressed that he is referring to a couple of Maltese importers and distributors who are as large as to be able to exert a monopoly. Of course, I knew immediately to whom he was referring and an organisation such as Alf Mizzi & Sons which is a major food importer in Malta, does have as much power as to exert a monopoly effect in the food distribution market –ย the question would be whether Alf Mizzi is actually exerting this monopoly power. This is why the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises is wrong to criticise Alex Saliba because his complaint isn’t about them at all. In addition, Alex Saliba is also correct in going straight to the EU Commission about his concerns because the local authorities do not have the power to adjudicate anti-competitive behaviour in terms of monopoly effect.
Trying to understand whether Alf Mizzi would be raising prices excessively would require an audit of their activities. So far, it is difficult to tell whether Maltese food importers are abusing their monopoly power because most of them haven’t posted their accounts for 2022 yet. Alf Mizzi’s group made significant gains in its profit margins in 2021, but it is difficult to tell at a quick glance how big is the food component of this income.
A major food import and distribution subsidiary of Alf Mizzi actually made fewer operating profits in 2021. However, I can not confirm whether this is the only food import and distribution operation of Alf Mizzi.
Another major food importer also seems to have had less operating profits for 2021.
2021 was the year that food inflation began to soar in Malta.
Unfortunately, food inflation soared as consumption expenditure dwindled (also partly due to the lack of tourists) – so this was bad for food importers.
So, at face value, food importers and distributors had a rough time in 2021, but consumer spending is now higher than pre-Covid levels.
This means that food importers would have started recovering again in 2022.
Alex Salib may have been too quick to make his complaint without the necessary evidence to back his allegations, however, Alex Saliba makes a good point. Other European nation-states have increased their scrutiny over food distributors and brokers in order to prevent excessive and unnecessary price hikes, however, the Labour government has simply thrown money and subsidies away at everyone without any care or consideration of what’s actually happening in our economy.
We should pay more attention, and even though Alex Saliba may not be the ideal messenger, he makes a good point.
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Historian and Publisher
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