At a time when there is a spike in the prices of basic food products across the country, Moxico wholesalers, interviewed by Angop, claim that the price change is registered at the source, in Luanda, and point to low financial capacity for acquisition of the products.
Interviewed by the news agency, trader Hamedi Salime, of Mauritanian nationality, said that “many wholesalers have lost the ability to buy large quantities of food to be resold in Moxico”. According to him, “some traders are unable to acquire more than 100 bags of products to be resold”.
Currently, the price of a box of pasta in that province is being sold for 9,500 kwanzas, compared to five thousand kwanzas three months ago, while in the same period, a 25 kg bag of rice increased by five thousand kwanzas, currently costing 27 500.
A 25 kg bag of wheat flour is being sold for 37 thousand, compared to 29,300 sold last December. The price of a 12-liter box of cooking oil rose from 26,000 to 27,600 in this period.
Meanwhile, according to the agency, the 50 kilogram bag of sugar registered a slight decrease, now costing 62 thousand kwanzas, compared to the previous 67 thousand.
“At this time, products such as corn flour and beans are scarce on the market, forcing traders to sell these foods in kilos at a price of 1,400 kwanzas”, lamented Hamedi Salime, who also fears that in the coming days the stock of establishments will remain empty.
In turn, trader Mamussiri Dialo denounces the increase in freight prices from carriers.
“The freight for a railway wagon from Benguela do Huambo to Luena rose to one million and 200 thousand kwanzas, compared to the 300 thousand previously charged, while for trucks it went from one million and 100 to one million and 500 kwanzas”, he pointed out. .
