TEXTBOOKS sellers were yesterday given a clean bill of health by the government’s Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC), which said the findings of a recent survey showed that there was no evidence of widespread price gouging or collusion in the sale of secondary and primary school textbooks.

At the same time, Hugh Taylor, the CAC’s director of research, said 53.7 per cent of textbooks had increased by 10 per cent or less, when compared to prices at August 2005. However, he attributed the hike to the depreciation of the local currency as well as other inflationary factors affecting the sector.

“…By comparison most textbook prices have shown increases of 10 per cent or less, while only 11.6 per cent of observed price movements were in the range of 15 per cent and over,” Taylor told reporters during a press briefing at the CAC’s head office in Kingston.

He noted, for example, that Animal Farm, a literature textbook, has increased from $894.39 to $967.86, an 8.21 per cent increase.

“The demand for textbooks continues to be high due to the ongoing momentum requirements for textbooks by existing students,” Taylor said.

The CAC’s textbook survey, conducted between July 31 and August 4, covered 17 core subject areas, including English Language and computer science. The number of texts surveyed totaled 95 books, 67 of which are used at the secondary level, and involved 68 bookstores – 28 from the Kingston and Metropolitan Area (KMA) and 43 in rural towns.

Said Taylor: “It is interesting to note that 22.1 per cent of observations recorded no increase or reduction, compared with last year. Except for special cases, the overall trend in textbook prices does not provide any respite for the hard-pressed consumer, however.

“Hence innovative ways such as rental and smart use of libraries and the Internet will have to be employed as a supportive measure where the prices of texts are unbearable,” said the CAC’s Taylor.

Meantime, Racquel Chambers, communication and research officer at the CAC, said in terms of availability most of the texts were mostly found in bookstores in the KMA. She also pointed out that the prices were mixed in terms of geographical location.

“What we will encourage is for consumers to call us, depending on what area they are in and we will be able to tell them where they would be able to find ‘X’ book at the best price and if it is available in most of the bookstores in their area or just one,” said Chambers.