Use price cut to buy Jamaican - Seprod boss

CEO of Corporate giants, Seprod, Richard Pandohie is urging consumers to buy Jamaican products on the heels of his company's major 20 per cent price cut in its popular biscuit brands.

Pandohie says the fall in oil prices, along with a commitment to reducing prices, contributed to Seprod's move to ease the burden on the Jamaican consumer.

Speaking with Loop News, Pandohie said: "the fall in oil prices was significant, the thing is anytime there was a spike in oil prices Jamaicans saw increases from various entities. We here at Seprod are doing the right thing in passing on the reduction to consumers. We genuinely believe that prices in Jamaica are generally too high"

The Seprod CEO continued, "we have made extensive investment in improving our service delivery and production facilities to top of the line standards. What we are saying to the Jamaican public is this - there are 1.5 billion dollars worth of imported biscuits to Jamaica annually. We want a piece of that buy Jamaican and help us bring jobs back to our country"

Last week, Pandohie announced an average 20 per cent discount on all of its biscuits and crackers including Butterkist, Snackables, Pick Nix and Ovaltine. 

The announcement came at the unveiling of new equipment valued at J$285 million at the Seprod subsidiary, International Biscuits Limited (IBL), where the biscuits are produced.

According to Pandohie, IBL invested J$285 million in retooling its operation with the purchase of a new oven valued a J$220 million and oil spray equipment valued at J$65 million. 

The investment will allow Seprod to improve productivity and reduce its cost profile, which, coupled with the lower energy price, will enable the company to give an average 20 per cent reduction in the price of its products.”

Pandohie adds that this is a continuation of Seprod’s stated objective of playing a leading role in the country’s growth agenda. 

In the last 15 months, Seprod has spent over $1 billion retooling its manufacturing operations; Serge Island Dairy, Serge Island Farms, Jamaica Grain and Cereal and Golden Grove.