Mozambique: Prices skyrocket at the Zimpeto wholesaler

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Mozambique: Prices skyrocket at the Zimpeto wholesaler

3:10 CAT | 18 Dec 2023

Image: O País

Just a few days before Christmas and the end of the year, products are starting to become more expensive at the Zimpeto Wholesale Market in Maputo. Butter beans, peanuts and tomatoes now have new prices, while imported potatoes and onions continue at their previous prices.

On Sunday morning, the reporting team from the newspaper O País was at the market, and there met Melecina Manave, who was shopping in what is considered the largest wholesale market in the south of the country.

Melecina calmly counted the change and slowly handled the products in here plastic bags. When she paused for the brief interview, she let out a hiss to vent about what she was experiencing at that point of convergence for many Mozambican families.

“It’s very expensive, it’s really expensive. The potato, the onion… the potato costs between 330 and 450 meticais. Onions also rose, and the pocket cannot handle these prices.”
The “Zimpeto wholesaler” supplies other markets, not only in the City of Maputo, but also in other nearby areas, including provinces such as Gaza and Inhambane. In that market, tomatoes are not only sold retail, but also wholesale. In fact, this is the purpose for which it was created. The price of a 20 kilogram box, in one week, rose by more than 100 meticais, as Fernando Tovele told our reporter.

“Last week, this box of tomatoes cost three to three hundred and fifty, and this week it has already gone up to five hundred and eighty Meticais. This tomato is produced in Catuane in the Matutuine district, Maputo province.”

And the tomatoes that are abundant in that market are of national production, with imported ones being scarce. Júlio José explains the reasons for the increase.

“The rain that has been falling is making it difficult to flow production into the fields. Farmers make extra efforts to place merchandise at accessible points.”

And when this rainy season arrives, which coincides with the festive season, it’s always like this, prices skyrocket. The same is happening with peanuts imported from eSwatine, formerly Swaziland, and nationally produced butter beans from the northern province of Niassa. Nilza Lhongo, who has dedicated herself to selling these products for decades, shares the prices.

“A 50 kg bag of peanuts, in previous weeks, cost between 3,000 and 3,800 Meticais and, this week, it is being sold for 4,200 Meticais. Butter beans used to cost around 4,000 Meticais and are now being sold for 5,000 Meticais.”

Vegetables, such as green beans, are also experiencing an increase in prices. Going in the opposite direction are potatoes and onions from South Africa, which remain at the same prices as two weeks ago, according to some importers interviewed by ‘O País’, with onions ranging from 180 to 300 meticais and potatoes from 300 to 450 meticais

Source: O País