Thursday, March 28, 2024

Kitwe Mealie-Meal retailers hikes prices

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Mealie-Meal retailers in Kitwe have increased the price of the commodity by K5.

The retailers have attributed the increase in the price of mealie- meal to the hike in the fuel pump price early last week.

A check by ZANIS found that a 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast was selling at between K75 and K 80 from K70 and K75 while roller meal was selling at K55 from K50.

Retail outlets checked include National Milling, Antelope Milling, Olympic Milling and Shoprite Checkers.

And African Consumer Unity Vice President Muyunda Ililonga said the recent increase in the fuel price has triggered the hike in the staple food.

Mr. Muyunda appealed to government to always be mindful of the prevailing economic conditions among the people each time it makes a decision that has a spiral effect on all sectors of the economy and the people.

He said government should always try to make lives of people affordable as much as it has no control of fuel prices on the international market.

He stated that people’s financial situation at the moment is very grave especially for those that are not working.

Mr. Ililonga said Government should engage various stakeholders to find a way of making the price of fuel and other essential goods affordable so as to promote productivity among manufacturers to ensure that products produced locally are affordable.

He noted that this increment will further result in the increase of many other commodities on the market.

12 COMMENTS

    • Lusaka is next, then the whole country. After peoples whining and complaining Lungu will intervene, tell the retailers to reduce the price, and then look like a hero. I’d like to advice residents of Lusaka and other places pending a price hike to secure your mealie-meal (and some for your relatives also) until Lungu intervenes. That’s cost saving advice!

    • Market Forces are not at work just Greed Forces of the stinking millers!

      How can they increase the price when they are still buying the maize at a low price of K1.2 per kg? This is very unfair business practice. It is not justified at all!

      Let us boycott buying maize from millers but rather buy maize from farmers directly and take that maize to the chigayo yourself! You will save a lot of money!

  1. @Ndanje Khakis, I agree with you and we should learn from East African countries like Tanzania. To much politics attached to mealie meal, but we have rice, potatoes, bananas cassava, sorghum and millet.

  2. Really we never depended on maize meal , but we have been caught up in this wind storm of maize as if people cannot survive without maize meal , this is cosmetic where is cassava meal ,fingermillet meal brushmillet meal why have they disappeared.
    The government must work hard to promote diverse kinds of food for zambians, when I was young you only ate maize meal on the copperbelt in villages there was no year of luck of food as maize wasn’t a factor .

    • Visionless agricultural policy and incompetence has led to the marginalization of other crop alternatives for food. The same in sport where soccer is being treated synonymous to any mention of sport!

  3. WAS TRYING CHECKING THIS WORD MEALIE-MEAL IN THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY ,,CANT FIND IT..WHAT DOES IT MEAN? BUT FROM THE STORY IT SEEMS SOME PEOPLE EAT THIS STUFF MEANT TO FEED PIGS HERE IN SWEEDEN, NO WONDER PIPO FROM S COUNTRIES HAVE BALLOONED SHAPES AND SHORT LIFE SPAN

  4. @5.1 In our time i.e. colonial days each province had its own staple food. Luapula and North Western had cassava(maize was just a snack ). Northern had millet, Central had kiffir corn called amasaka. Maize was mainly in eastern and Southern provinces. Copperbelt had maize coming from the main producing provinces. I didn’t know what staple was in Barotse so I can’t say. Unip in their bid to enhance mass production of food imposed the farming of hybrid maize in all provinces. This has backfired due to laziness and that soils have been damaged due to fertilizers so you can’t grow cassava.

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