Mozambique: Prices of goods and services rose in February

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Mozambique: Prices of goods and services rose in February

11:52 CAT | 13 Mar 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Emerging]

The price of goods and services increased in February, mainly influenced by the 4.74% rise in food service prices, according to the National Institute of Statistics’ monthly report.

The month of February was difficult for consumers looking for affordable goods and services, due to the overall 4.47% increase in prices, more than in February last year. “The Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Restaurants, hotels, cafes and similar divisions were those that saw the biggest price increases, increasing by around 11.89% and 6.20%, respectively,” the report details.

The document also indicates the main urban centres recorded the highest increases. The city of Tete, for example, recorded the largest price increase at around 6.85%, followed by the city of Xai-Xai, at 6.17%. Maputo, which represents the majority of the sample, saw a 4.74% rise; Nampula, 4.71%, and the lowest recorded was Quelimane, with 3.45%.

Our newspaper visited some food establishments in the city of Maputo to understand the reasons for the increase in prices. The rise in raw material prices resulting from post- election protests is cited as the main reason. “Initially, everything was going very well, we had a good flow of customers, but as time went by some things stopped. Some of our suppliers have closed, suppliers of eggs, flour, wheat, so unfortunately we had to change some of our suppliers,” explained Wilma da Cruz, an employee at a bakery on Avenida Julius Nyerere.

With the change in suppliers, it was necessary to adjust prices, as Wilma’s company did. “Not all of our products have been increased in scale, one or the other, to be able to maintain customers, because with the increase in prices we can also scare away our customers. So, to maintain demand, we tried to limit increases to 10%-20% of our normal prices,” Wilma said.

Wilma’s bakery took a risk by raising prices, because some businesses absorbed the losses so as not to affect their customers’ pockets. One such is the restaurant run by Raquel Lopes. “Knowing the situation, increasing the price is the most viable and quickest solution, but we also have to understand the situation versus the customer a little,” Lopes explained. “And if we want to keep sales at the same level or close to it, even with an increase on the part of suppliers, we respond in the same way, so that the customer ends up seeing this drop in sales. So we try to manage, both with the type of dish, the type of drink that we offer, without losing quality, but always adapting, as I said before, to the more national ingredients, leaving aside what is, let’s say, international, what is at the level, which is our level, at an international level, lowering the products in this segment a little and using more national ones.”

Despite such strategies, the restaurant sector experiences daily uncertainty. “They are complicated,” said Anaisse Perreira, manager of a snack bar. “I can’t say that we are happy with the accounts, nor that things are normal, but we can really see that there was a huge drop. But I also believe that, given the situation during Ramadan, people now, on a religious level, end up only having the opening meal at night. I can’t say it’s stable yet. These have been blank moments – we are not sure of anything at the moment. We are living one day at
a time.”

Anaisse leads a team of young people who each day take on the mission of making more sales to turn the numbers around. “We have tourist clients who unfortunately haven’t been showing up as much. So, in terms of accounts, it’s also about seeing what we can do, reducing costs as much as possible, to get the machine moving.”

Little by little, businesspeople are starting to emerge from a tight spot that nearly robbed them of their businesses. “There were several moments of uncertainty,” Anaisse confided.

“We had a few days when we were closed. And when we are open, we always have that unknown. What will the movement be like today? If we close early because of the shortage of transportation for employees? We often had difficulty obtaining our daily products because we work with local suppliers. Our vegetables, our fruits, are from local vendors.

And many times the markets were empty. People couldn’t harvest, they couldn’t bring it in.” Indeed, many businesses closed their doors during the post-election protests, with no forecast as to when they will reopen.

Source: O País