Food supply seen improving: Planning Minister claims the government has serious food shortages on the run

Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Planning and Development Minister Haiman El Troudi claimed over the weekend that the government had gotten the threat of serious food shortages on the run, and was setting up a system of strategic "alimentary reserves" to ensure supplies in future. The new reserves would be enough for two months' demand, the minister said, and he was "sufficiently optimistic" about the outlook although the last bout of shortages had "surprised us a little."

• However, the latest bulletin from the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) shows that food industry growth slowed by a little over half to an annualized 6.2 percent in the first quarter, against 12.5 percent in the corresponding period of 2007.

Last year's rise in food industry output still wasn't sufficient to meet rising demand. Hence, one shortage after another, amid industry pressure for price controls on key food items to be removed or eased.

El Troudi says controls are here to stay, although official prices for some products have been raised and a few items taken off the system. The relative slowdown in the third quarter wasn't universal. Meat processors boosted output by 14.1 percent and bakers by 11.4 percent. But if the reality -- or at least the perception -- of a lurking rash of shortages poised to leap on the public demonstrates anything, it's the government's limited ability to crack down on the deliberate hoarding it blames for shortages.

Fifteen months after President Hugo Chavez signed a law against hoarding, speculation and boycotts, the head of the national consumer defense institute (Indecu) admitted he'd missed the boat on a pledge to declare the country free of speculators and hoarders on May 31.

Indecu chief Eduardo Saman's problems seem to be broken promises. He'd hoped to hire 5,000 new inspectors because Indecu only has 179 thinly sprinkled across the country. For this, he'd expected an extra credit of Bs.F.43 million, on top of a Bs.F.14 million budget mostly earmarked for existing staff. The additional credit has yet to materialize.