Dar es Salaam. Residents of Dar es Salaam are digging deeper in their pockets to buy foodstuffs and other products at markets due to high demand.
The survey by The Citizen has established that food commodities in high demand are those normally preferred during festive seasons such as rice, meat, beans and others.
The survey reveals that, there is a sudden increase in the retail price of rice, the most preferred cereal food, which is now sold at between Sh2,200 and Sh2,600 per kilogram depending on quality compared to Sh1,600 a week ago.
Most traders at some markets like Kisutu, Mabibo, Buguruni and Ilala complained about the sudden increase in the price, saying most of the wholesalers were out of stock.
Some sources from various markets have it that, some dishonest traders bought rice in bulk a few weeks ago and kept it so that they may hike up the price during Christmas.
Ms Mwamvua Salumu, a food seller at Kisutu Market told The Citizen that it was difficult to get rice at the moment and she had to sell the little stock of food she had at a high price.
“This is the real situation at the moment. It is upon the buyers to decide whether to buy the commodity or not,” she said.
She explained that rice was being sold at Sh2600 at the market, but it could be sold even higher than that before the New Year.
Mr Joseph Kisanga, food wholesaler at Buguruni Market wondered why the price had gone up since the demand was not that higher compared to previous years.
“Last year, there were more customers at the time like this (two days before Christmas) and we could not have even a chance to talk like that, but this year is different,” he noted.
He said in the previous years he was able to sell at least 2,500kg of rice per day, but he could not even sell 1,500kg this time.
The survey also shows that, the price of beef at most butchers at city markets is expensive and ordinary people can hardly afford it. A kilogram of meat is sold at Sh7,000 instead of Sh5,500. Beef steak is sold at Sh8,000 instead of Sh7,000.
Again, the price of a kilogram of goat meat has slightly increased as it is sold at between Sh7,500 and Sh8,500 from last week’s Sh7,000.
Meat sellers said during interviews that, prices had risen because the supply of cattle at Pugu Auction Mart had decreased for the last few days due to lack of reliable transport from upcountry regions.
The survey has also established that chicken meat and egg prices have also gone up. At various markets the price of a broiler chicken has gone up from about Sh5,000 to Sh8,000, while for an indigenous chicken it went up to Sh15,000 from Sh12,000.
Generally, a broiler chicken is sold at between Sh8,000 and Sh17, 000, while an indigenous chicken is sold at Sh15, 000 to Sh27, 000 depending on the size. The price of eggs went up to Sh12,000 from Sh9,000 per tray (30 eggs) two weeks ago.
Interviewed customers said some butchers were fond of rising prices during religious festive seasons since most people liked to eat meat on such occasions.
“This is a normal thing as businesspeople take advantage of the situation to sell commodities at a profit,” said Ms Marry Mbwambo, a resident of Mabibo. However, she appealed to the government to intervene.
One of the sources from Buguruni Market’s management staff, who preferred anonymity, said the business trend at the market during Christmas had been influenced by the supply and demand of commodities.
He said the festive season had influenced the upward price trend at most markets in the city, but once it was over, prices would go down again.
Some traders cited increased transportation costs from upcountry regions as the main cause of price increase.
At the same time, customers blamed businesspeople for hiking commodity prices, saying that would aggravate economic hardships.
“If prices continue rising, I don’t think people will be able to buy food,” said Mama Derick, a resident of Buguruni, adding that: “at this time around money is scarce.”
Apart from food commodities, this reporter found out that at major shopping centres in the city were displays of goods, but only few people could buy them.
The Citizen reporter visited some Kariakoo shops, where most traders said they were unhappy with the business situation during this year’s Christmas with others blaming low purchases on financial hardships.
One wholesaler in Kariakoo, who deals in shoes said many customers preferred second hand shoes to those made in local industries.
According to Mr Zuberi Shaha, some businesspeople have lowered prices and offered special discounts for bulky purchases to attract more buyers, but in vain.
He said he used to get Sh2 million a day in the previous Christmas seasons, but he almost got Sh700,000 only a day this time of the year.
“You have stayed here for at least 45 minutes and you can tell the trend of customers entering my shop to buy shoes,” noted.
According to him, he has a large stock of shoes, but no one buys them.
Mr Reonatus Mgunda, 26, who sells clothes along Kariakoo streets said his business was not going well.
He said he used to get Sh180,000 a day in the previous festive seasons, but this time of year he was able to earn Sh50,000 only.
Another vender, Caroline, who sells Christmas cards and decorations at her kiosk situated in Jangwani, said she had lowered prices to sell her goods, but only few customers would buy them.
She said she had to lower the prices of the cards per bundle from Sh8,000 to Sh7,000 and others with a relatively reasonable discount, but it couldn’t help much. However, some vendors said most buyers shunned big businesspeople, who hiked prices and went for low price goods sold by them.
