Minister Laporte visits STC |04 September 2013

The Minister for Finance, Trade and Investment Pierre Laporte yesterday toured the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) as part of a series of visits to all parastatal firms that fall under his ministry.

He was accompanied by top officials from his ministry as well as from the STC.

As the visit lasted for half a day, he only visited some units of the company, starting with the Tea and Coffee Unit at Morne Blanc. Then he went to the Bois de Rose factory where he discovered the different processes of toilet paper and kitchen towel making. He also took the chance to see the bakery before proceeding to the STC supermarket in town where he ended his visit.

During his visit, the minister also got the chance to talk to the employees at each unit.

Speaking to the press, Minister Laporte described his visit as satisfactory.

“I was impressed, bearing in mind that the STC has just gone through a change of management,” he said.

“I, as the Minister for Finance, on behalf of the government, I would like to congratulate the STC for the fundamental role it plays in providing the people of Seychelles with basic commodities at affordable prices,” he said.

“Overall I am pleased with what I saw, especially the equipment. In general they are in good running conditions. At the tea factory I found that it has an enormous potential as a tourism attraction. And staff has brought up certain minor issues that have been taken care of by their management,” he added.

STC’s chief executive Veronique Laporte thanked the minister for his visit and took the opportunity to clarify certain issues with regard to the increase in the price of apples.

“Yes, there was a batch of apples that were being sold at a higher price in the STC supermarket and this was due to the fact that we had to import apples by air as our stock was exhausted and there had been a delay in the delivery of our consignment that was coming by boat. As air freight is more costly, obviously we had to push up our prices too, but customers would have noticed that as soon as the new batch came in the price went down to its normal rate.”

She also said that STC tries its best to sell basic commodities as low as it can and even tries to introduce new merchandise in the supermarket so as to give its customers a wider choice in their shopping.

Minister Laporte and his delegation touring the STC supermarket in Victoria

 The delegation at the Bois de Rose factory