Ensis stops fish purchase after govt's MVR 25 per kilo price hike

Ensis, one of the largest private fisheries in Maldives, has stopped purchasing fish and warned that it will close its canneries within the week if a solution is not found, after the government increased the fish purchase price via the state-owned fisheries company MIFCO to MVR 25 per kilo.

Ensis chairman Mohamed Waseem told Atoll Times on Saturday it was not possible to buy fish at the price decided by the government.

"[Even before] it was very difficult to buy fish at MVR 17. The decision to increase the price of fish was taken suddenly while we were discussing it with the government," he said.

"This is a decision without any notice or consultation. We learned about the change from a newspaper."

The increase in fish prices, Waseem said, would cause serious losses to the company. Canneries usually take orders 15 days in advance. When the price of fish suddenly changed, Waseem said they had no choice but to stop buying fish.

"There will be legal terms in the orders. If you cancel the orders, you will have to pay compensation. That compensation will be cheaper than buying for MVR 25," he said.

Waseem said the company will not be able to repay a large loan and will have to slash jobs.

"Of the 400 employees in our cannery, 80% are women. About 200 will lose their jobs," he said.

However, Ensis has not yet decided to close the cannery.

“If we don’t find a solution within the next two days after talking to the government, we will close the cannery,” he said.

"I gave a message to the government officials. They said they would try to find a solution."

In addition, although MIFCO can buy fish at high prices because the government subsidises it, there is no such subsidy for private companies, he said.

"We have been advising the government not to subsidise MIFCO but to subsidise the fishermen directly. Then even two-thirds of the cost of subsidising MIFCO won't be spent. The economic minister also accepts this," Waseem said.