Butchers operating in the markets of the town hall of Bujumbura are reluctant to apply the price set by the Ministry of the Interior. They prefer to abandon the sale of meat rather than respect the official prices. They justify this by arguing that in this case they would be working at a loss. So far only bone-in meat is available
Consumers of good meat say they are not well served, especially since even before this measure the price of a kilo of meat was higher in butcher shops than in markets.
It all started with correspondence from the Ministry of the Interior asking to harmonize the price of boneless meat at 11,000 FBu per kilo and 10,000 FBu that of meat with bone inside the country and in the municipality of Bujumbura. Finding boneless meat in the markets of Bujumbura is just a memory. Tuesday, February 07, 2023, the day of our report, at the “Cotebu” market and the one commonly called at Sion, no butcher offered boneless meat. If a customer asked for pieces of meat without bones, the butchers offered to cut a good piece on the portions of meat normally with bone, but at least 12,000 FBu per kilo.
Do you know that it is forbidden to sell meat for more than 11,000 FBu? they were asked. “It’s impossible to sell the meat for that amount. We would be working at a loss,” said one of the butchers at the Cotebu market. Pieces of meat without bones are sent to butchers where prices are not imposed. Consumers of good meat say they are not well served, especially since even before this measure, the price of a kg of meat was higher in butcher shops than in markets.
Prices of other commodities remain high
We are in the morning of Tuesday, February 07, 2023 at the Ngagara II market commonly called Cotebu. The observation made on the spot is that the prices of foodstuffs remain high. Nevertheless, a slight drop is observed on certain products such as beans compared to the prices of the same products at the end of November 2022. These include the prices of onions, beans, corn flour called Isembe and cassava flour.
| Articles | Price of November 23, 2022 in FBu | Price of February 07, 2023 in FBu | Difference in FBu |
| Tanzanian rice 1 | 5000 | 6000 | 1000 |
| Cheaper rice | 3500 | 3400 | -100 |
| yellow beans | 2800/kg | 3400/Kg | 600 |
| Kinure Beans | 2300/kg | 3500/Kg | 1200 |
| Pile of Haricots | 3000 | 2700 | -300 |
| manioc flour | 2000/kg | 2300/Kg | 300 |
| Cassava flour (ikirobeke) | 2700/kg | 3200/Kg | 500 |
| Corn flour (sembe) | 3000/kg | 3000/kg | 0 |
| corn kernels | 3200/kg | 1900/Kg | -1300 |
| Potato | 1300/kg | 1000/kg | -300 |
| White onions | 1400/kg | 1500/kg | 100 |
| red onions | 1300/kg | 1500/kg | 200 |
| Peas | 6500/kg | 4000 | -2500 |
| Refined oil(Golden) 5l | 48000 | 45000 | -3000 |
| Sunflower oil | 50000 | 50000 to 52000 (depending on brand) | 0-2000 |
Traders working in the “Cotebu” and “Chez Sion” markets explain that the level of bean prices is an indicator of a poor harvest for this product. “Normally, prices should already fall during this period.” They fear that the situation could get worse as planting time approaches.
