Economie

Food Price Rise: Consumer Resilience Saluted

Par JATOR NJENYU
10 janv. 2022 13:25
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Coalition of Consumers Association of Cameroon attribute rising cost of living to on-going coronavirus pandemic since first quarter of the year 2020.

“I would like to begin by saluting the resilience thus demonstrated by the consumer community throughout the year 2021. It was particularly a difficult year due to the persistence of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences on the economic fabric and the consumption chain as a whole. This is an opportunity for us to denounce the behaviour of traders who take advantage of these difficult times to enrich themselves at the cost of consumers through speculative and inflationary manoeuvres. It is also the occasion to salute the citizen actions of the actors of the sectors of the oilseeds, the millers and the bakery which stabilised their prices in spite of the global and national situation.” Prince Mpondo, President of Coalition of Consumers Association of Cameroon, said those words in his opening remark during a press conference in Douala, Bonanjo, on January 6, 2022.

Speaking on the “Problematic of the soaring price of raw materials on the international market and its inevitable impact on the Cameroonian consumer and the government measures to fight against expensive living,” the analyst focused on the situation of the high cost of living in general and of the world wheat crisis in particular.

There have been the soaring prices of raw materials on international markets. Maize prices have soared by more than 50% since January 2021 and are at a level not reached since 2012. The price of soybeans climbed almost 20% in 2021 which has never been so since 2013. That of wheat, after showing an increase of more than 15%, rose to almost 85% in a few days, thus largely exceeding the level of 15% observed in 2013. The situation is all the more worrying as it continues and attracts the attention of countries, especially importing ones like Cameroon at the start of 2022.