Malagasy government caps price of imported rice after weeks of increases
In Anosibe, the largest wholesale market in the capital, Antananarivo, wholesalers are worried about the price of rice being capped.
© Laetitia Bezain / RFI
Text by: Laetitia Bezain Follow
4 min
In Madagascar, the government has set the price per kilo of rice.
For several weeks, this foodstuff, the staple food in the Big Island, has continued to increase.
The prices of different varieties of rice at grocers vary between 2,200 and 2,500 Ariarys (between 0.50 and 0.55 euros).
Tariffs that Malagasy households can no longer afford.
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From our correspondent in Antananarivo,
In the district of Anosibe, inside the largest wholesale market in the capital, most merchants heard the news of the pricing of rice in the morning.
Their prices have not changed and few agree to talk about this subject which worries them.
On Friday evening, the Prime Minister announced that the price of a kilo of imported rice cannot exceed 1,925 ariary.
Naivo, wholesaler, holds in his hands a newspaper, in front page, a photo of the Prime Minister and the indication of the price fixed the day before: “
It is not possible to accept their decision.
No one here can follow it because we buy very expensive rice from importers.
They sell it to us at 2000 Ariarys per kilo.
"
By capping the price of imported rice, the government also hopes to lower the price of local rice.
In another aisle, Dina offers nine varieties of this cereal, all over 2000 Ariary: "
If it is the state that delivers the rice to us at a low price and tells us to sell it at the price it has set." , then we could do it without problem!
But the rice we have right now, we're not going to sell it off, she exclaims.
Our margin is already low.
Either way, we have all the invoices from our suppliers to prove our good faith.
"
An application of the measure announced by Monday
Three kilometers away, at the Mahamasina market, the grocers have not changed their prices either.
Tinah, a retailer, gets her supplies from Anosibe wholesalers
:
“
I was very surprised this morning when I read that the state was going to force us to lower our prices.
You cannot buy expensive rice and sell it cheap.
We are in a period when there is a little less rice so the price is increasing.
It happens every year.
"
Contacted, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Lantosoa Rakotomalala, indicates that the price was decided in agreement with representatives of the entire industry. “
There was no constraint.
We did the math.
This award didn't come out like that.
We have already made raids in the markets to educate traders.
The application of this price will be visible from Monday
"
,
she explains.
Each year, Madagascar imports rice, as
local production
is not sufficient.
By the end of the month, 100,000 tonnes of imported rice are expected.
“
There will be plenty of rice at the import level.
So it will balance the price.
There is also the harvest for the local rice which will arrive next week.
It will complete the offer and it will stabilize the price too,
”she points out.
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Madagascar
Food
Trade and distribution