Price of basic commodities shoot up

The recent increase in petroleum products has led to an increase in the prices of basic commodities in Bamenda. Vendors and customers are not comfortable with the state of affairs. A bucket of Irish potatoes that used to be sold at FCFA 2,300 is now sold at FCFA 2,500 or FCFA 2,800.

Sandra Che, a vendor of Irish potatoes at the Bamenda Food market said; “customers simply walk away when we mention the new price. All of us here sell at the same price,” she explained.

Stephany Ngum, another vendor of Irish potatoes said; “customers complain that potatoes are expensive, but to us it is cheap because, during the dry season, we do not fill the buckets as we do now.”

Also a bucket of garri that sold at FCFA 3,500 has increased to FCFA 4000. “I sell five litres of MAYOR oil for FCFA 4,500 or FCFA 5000, while five litres of palm oil is sold at FCFA 3,500 instead of FCFA 3,000”, says Sandra Lum, a retailer at the food market. Rodrigo Tatsa also says a bag of groundnuts that used to sell at FCFA 38,000 or FCFA 40,000 now sells at FCFA 56,000. “This has greatly affected my daily sales,” Tatsa said.

Rice has slightly increased by FCFA 1000 at the Bamenda Food market, unlike Nkwen Market, where it is sold at FCFA 17,500 instead of FCFA 15,000. Vendors attribute this to bad business. The price of a kilogram of meat however, has been maintained at FCFA 2,500 at the Nkwen market, but the price of plantain has increased, as a bunch now cost FCFA 7,000 as opposed to FCFA 4,500 whereas a bucket of cocoyam is maintained at FCFA 3,500.