Buy enough and leave items for others so they too can have enough.

That’s the underlying message from the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission chief executive officer, Joel Abraham to all Fijians.

In a press conference, Mr Abraham said Fijians needed to take a step back to breathe and think before moving forward.

“You will expect to see some shelves empty, but it’s not because there’s no food in Fiji. There is no shortage in supply.

“Fiji has not closed its borders. Imports are still coming in. They are still being cleared,” Mr Abraham said.

Mr Abraham’s response comes after many Fijians were on panic-mode buying across supermarkets in the country yesterday. He urged Fijians to exercise common sense.

For shops

In this light, it has also advised retailers to exercise their judgment based on their customers and store locations to limit sale for customers.

“For example, for baby milk (formula milk), we do not want bulking buying of baby milk so that everyone who needs it can continue to buy it and not wait for re-order inventory,” he said.

“Not everyone may be able to bulk buy and there could be our Fijian babies who will go without milk because some of us panicked.

“Please don’t get into panic mode. Please ensure that you have enough and you leave items for other people so that they can have enough.

“Companies like Rajendra’s (Supermarket) have called us. They spoke to my general manager and said: Look we’ll be closing down for two hours, no need for panic, it’s just because people are now coming into our bulk trying to get into our bulk and we’ve called the Police on these people.”

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

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