Parents feeling the pinch as stationery prices soar

Dar es Salaam. With schoolchildren returning home for a one-month holiday this week, their parents should be prepared to pay more for their stationery when they return to school in September as a number of requirements have gone up by over 100 percent during the past few months.

A survey by The Citizen has established that prices for paper reams, legal papers, exercise books and mathematical sets have gone up by up to 100 percent during the past three months due to reasons that are closely linked to the disruption of supply chains, fuelled by the war in Ukraine.

While a carton of paper reams used to cost between Sh40,000 and Sh45,000 some four months ago on wholesale price, the same has since gone up to between Sh85,000 and Sh90,000.

Similarly, one now needs up to Sh22,000 to buy a dozen of Mathematical sets on wholesale price in Dar es Salaam.

This is a massive rise from Sh14,000 a few months ago. As a result, one will now need between Sh2,500 and Sh3,000 to buy the cheapest model of Mathematical set, up from only about Sh2,000 a few months ago.

A carton of paper reams comprises of five bundles. Four months ago, one would access a bundle for Sh10,000 or Sh11,000 on retail price in major stationery shops in Dar es Salaam. But, with the disruptions in the supply chain, one now needs between Sh22,000 and Sh30, 000 to access the same bundle on retail.

Tanzanians are also digging deeper into their pockets to access legal papers whose prices have gone up to between Sh14,000 and Sh19,500 from only about Sh8,000 four months ago.

“This business is not longer profitable at the moment. In a nut shell, the price of everything that is made of paper has gone up during the past few months…We are struggling to survive. It’s about time the government intervened by promoting local manufacturing of the products,” said a retailer of stationery at Kariakoo, Mr Seleman Danji.

He said Tanzanians were also contending with a rise in prices of other stationery products, including Mathematical sets, pencils and pens in some locations.

“For example, we used to pay Sh37,000 to buy 100 exercise books of ‘Msomi’ type four months ago but now, we have to cough up to Sh57,000 to access the same in wholesale shops. When I say the prices have gone up, I mean it,” he said.

The government says the rise in the price of paper and its products was due to a number of factors, including the ongoing tension in Ukraine.

According to the deputy Minister for Investment, Trade and Industry Mr Exaud Kigahe, the government was also trying to work out a plan that would attract investment and technology in the production of white paper locally as a way of ensuring that Tanzanians get the products on affordable prices.

He said what the government was doing now was to reduce import duty on importers of the materials so that they can be sold at affordable prices, noting that it [the government] was also motivating local investors so they can grab that opportunity and produce enough products to meet the local and the international market.

“Currently, we only have one factory, Mufindi Paper Mills Ltd, that produces paper. The company however does not produce white because it has not yet invested in the technology of producing such kind of papers…,” he said.

The natural resources and tourism officer for Iringa Region, Dr Bahati Goliama echoed similar sentiments, noting that though the available factory does not produce white paper, the region still offers a number of opportunities for investors seeking to venture into the paper-making business.

“Trees are the major raw material in paper production and here in Iringa, we plant 35 million trees every year. This means that we have massive opportunities for those seeking to invest in paper production,” he said.

A stationery wholesaler at Posta, Ms Esther Mvungi said the rise in prices means that parents will have to dig deeper in the pockets and that some of them will find the going tough.