Price hikes drive customers away @ Maputo’s Xipamanine market

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Price hikes drive customers away @ Maputo’s Xipamanine market

1:07 CAT | 10 Aug 2016

Folha de Maputo

The cost of living is increasing, and consumers are finding it difficult to keep up because of the low wages they receive. One of the results is the low turnout at the Xipamanine market on the outskirts of Maputo recently.

Xipamanine fish vendor market Teresa Samuel says that sales have dropped significantly in recent years because of rising commodity prices, and she struggles to support her family.

“I’ve been selling here for over 25 years and I raised my children on the sale of these products. Today prices are reaching frightening levels and we can no longer make a living,” she said.

In the same situation as Teresa are the vendors selling necessities who, time and time again, complain of difficulty paying the fixed rates in the market.

“Already we can’t endure. So we ask our president do something for us. Mostly we, the ‘mamanas’ of the market, support our children with what little we can make,” vendor Celma Daúde says.

In one of the largest informal markets in the country produce even ends up rotting on the stalls for lack of customers.

Source: Folha de Maputo