Bread goes stale as consumers resist new prices

By Lance Guma
20 December 2005

Supermarkets in Bulawayo who were hoping to maximise their profits by ordering huge quantities of bread pending a huge price increase have been left stunned by the sight of stale bread on their shelves. Last week the price of bread rose from around Z$ 30,000 to Z$ 50,000 for a loaf sparking a boycott of the product by consumers struggling to make ends meet in a hyper-inflationary economy.

Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme, recently placed on a list of 64 Zimbabweans whose passports are to be seized at entry points in the country, reports that the boycott has caught supermarkets by surprise. The sight of stale bread on supermarket shelves is not normally associated with a country facing chronic food shortages. This however is the stark reality of a market where availability competes with affordability. A wheat dealer told Saungweme the Grain Marketing Board has increased flour prices from Z$ 960,000 to Z$ 12 million per tonne.

The figures although not officially acknowledged, give some kind of indicator as to why the price of bread has shot up tremendously. Not helping matters is the inability of the new farming regime to adequately grow enough wheat to feed the country. A 66 percent rise in the price of bread has not been met with a commensurate rise in the incomes of poor Zimbabweans already battling other shortages and price increases. Meat has gone up from Z$ 95,000 to Z$ 195,000 per kg while the price of mealie meal went up from Z$80, 000 to Z$ 180, 000 for a 10kg bag. A 10kg bag of parlenta super refined mealie meal now costs Z$ 250 000 for a 10kg bag.

Saungweme further reports of a planned increase of commuter omnibus fares in coming weeks. The economic picture looks bleak for Zimbabweans in the run up to the Christmas holidays.