8 December 2008
Maputo — Mozambican food and drink companies, importers and distributors on Monday guaranteed that there will be enough supplies for the festive season, and there will be no hiking of prices.
At a Maputo press conference, the importers of potatoes, onions, tomatoes and eggs promised they will not increase their prices unless their South African suppliers do so.
A representative of the importers, Fernando Matusse, said they have agreed with the government that they will import three to five times the normal quantity of these goods to ensure that the market is fully supplied over the Xmas and New Year holidays.
As from Wednesday, fairs would be opened at various points in Maputo to take the pressure off the Zimpeto wholesale market. "In these places, the goods will be sold at the same prices as in the wholesale market", pledged Matusse.
Cervejas de Mocambique (CDM - Beers of Mozambique), the Mozambican subsidiary of South African Breweries, guaranteed that there will be enough stocks of beer to cover the entire country. CDM has acquired 900,000 crates of beer bottles, to minimise the problem of bottle shortages which has affected beer supply in previous years.
Likewise the Mozambican branch of the Coca-Cola company promised there will be enough soft drinks. More 300 millilitre bottles are being obtained, said Coca-Cola public relations official, Joe Dai, and in the rural areas canned drinks will be distributed.
Dai insisted that his company has no intention of increasing its prices, and in an attempt to prevent speculation by middlemen, Coca-Cola is launching an advertising campaign to inform consumers of the recommended prices for soft drinks.
Poultry producers say there will be no shortage of chickens. The Maputo General Union of Cooperatives (UGC) promises to sell 390,000 chickens, 70 per cent of them frozen and the rest live (but this is 10,000 fewer than in the 2007 festive season).
The company Mozambique Farmers says it can make 30,000 chickens a week available (many fewer than the 50,000 a week that was its target). However, other poultry producers in Maputo city and province say that can produce a total of 180,000 chickens, which can be bought at the farm gate for 80-85 meticais (about 3.5 US dollars) each.
The country's main food processing company, the Companhia Industrial de Matola (CIM), guaranteed that there will be enough wheat flour, maize flour and animal feed to satisfy the market through to February 2009.
After hearing all these promises, the government's National Director of Trade, Jaime Nicols, declared that all the conditions were in place for "the best Xmas and New Year ever".
He pointed out that fuel prices have fallen, as have grain prices. The fall in the value of the South African rand should make imports of goods from South Africa considerably cheaper.
"All the factors that in the past were invoked as reasons for the higher prices of goods in the festive season - the fuel prices, the grain prices, the exchange rate - today they all work in favour of Mozambique", he said. "We're convinced that in 2008 the festive season will be better than in previous years".
"If something happens, it will be an anomaly", Nicols said. "We will have brigades throughout the country controlling supplies and prices, so we can state that this year there will be no room for opportunists".
Nicols and the business representatives alike urged consumers not to leave their Xmas and New Year purchases to the last moment, and to denounce any attempt at speculation.
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