Food prices rose across the board on New Year’s Eve in Mozambique. Chicken, oil and eggs are the most sought-after products and were also the most expensive.
In Maputo, at the informal market in Praça dos Combatentes, aka Xiqueleni, Rachid Sigauque is shopping for the end-of-year festivities, but admits to being “scared” by the price of a kilo of chicken, which is almost 5 euros.
“These days it’s not going very well, because prices have tended to increase, so it’s very difficult for consumers to make ends meet,” she told DW.
Chicken seller Sara Massingue justifies the rise with the cost of farming. “Breeding is not easy, the price of chicken is higher, the chick itself has gone up, the feed is not easy,” she said. “There’s less demand and customers have reduced the quantity they buy. The customer who used to take ten has now reduced his order,” she admitted.
Bad faith on the part of economic agents
Economist Elcídio Bachita justifies the high rise in prices at this time of year with bad faith on the part of those who sell. “There is a general tendency on the part of economic agents who want to maximise profits at all costs, to the detriment of the consumer, and this ends up creating a rise in prices,” he said.
But it’s not just chicken that has become more expensive. A honeycomb of eggs now costs the equivalent of 5 euros and five litres of oil is worth 7 euros.
At the Zimpeto wholesale market, the National Inspector of Economic Activities, Gabriel Chongo, says there has been a variation in prices and rules out speculation.
“I say variation, because we’ve often said that any price rise is price speculation. It doesn’t constitute price speculation when the product in question exceeds the maximum margins stipulated by law,” he said.
More scrutiny
Economist Elcídio Bachita says that at this time the National Inspection of Economic Activities (INAE) has to tighten its grip on speculators, not just because of the high prices being charged on the markets.
“But also in terms of the quantity that is sold to consumers,” he said.
“Sometimes consumers are cheated by economic agents because they manipulate weighing machines, which ends up harming the consumer,” he warned.
The economist also said that the country is penalised in the prices of basic food products because it doesn’t have local production capacity.
“This is characteristic of our economy, because in other countries there is a significant drop in the prices of goods as the authorities and economic agents in those countries try to offer consumers relatively lower prices,” he concluded.
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