Ministry of Trade queries supermarkets on prices

Ministry of Trade and Industry is summoning chain stores operating in the country’s cities as part of its inquest into soaring commodity prices in the country.

Minister of Trade and Industry Mark Katsonga-Phiri said this in an interview on the sidelines of World Consumer Rights Day commemorations in Mchinji on Thursday.

He said: “Some have taken advantage of the situation and are pushing up prices unnecessarily and we have been tipped that this is sabotage and we have got our eyes and ears open.

“In the major cities, big chain stores have the bad habit of pushing up prices, mostly consumables, unnecessarily and my ministry is summoning most of them and we are looking at each of them.

“We are even investigating international commodity prices where we are saying if this product is selling at this price on the international market and you have added up to 50 percent on the same product, are you being fair? So, we are dealing with traders who are behaving in that manner.”

But Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said it was not reasonable for government to start summoning the traders before gathering data to challenge them.

He said: “We have an unstable currency and markets which are always affecting the prices. While some traders are honest, the market is full of cheaters.

“That’s why there are other products whose prices are fair while others are not. In this case, we need data if the ministry is to succeed with this initiative.”

Meanwhile, the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC), which organised the commemorations, has vowed to continue fighting against unfair trade practices in the country.

CFTC acting chief executive officer Apoche Itimu said that last year alone, they resolved 300 complaints related to unfair trading which included “insufficient labelling of products and selling of underweight and expired products”.

The move comes amidst observations by economists that the jump in commodity prices is due to foreign exchange shortages, warning the situation could worsen with the expected fuel price hike.