In the second week of the holy month, a question continues to agitate the debate: what will happen to the level of food prices? Confronted for several months with quasi-structural inflationary pressures, households are put in difficulty by the high cost of living.
Some even fear a Ramadan without flavors, and dread the idea of not being able to meet the expenses related to this period synonymous with copiousness and gustatory pleasures.
For now, consumers, waiting for lower prices, are tightening their belts and favoring parsimony over the usual opulence of ftours, opting for less expensive recipes based on affordable ingredients.
While the month of Ramadan is generally accompanied by higher prices due to the strong demand for food products, this year the consumer is also forced to deal with the agent inflation.
The latest figures from the High Commission for Planning (HCP) confirm this observation since the consumer price index (CPI) recorded, year-on-year, an increase of 10.1% during the month of February 2023.
The food component alone appreciated by 20.1% over the same period, while the CPI for non-food products rose by 3.6%. Vegetables show an increase of 17.8%, fruits of 5.7% and meats of 4.3%.
On the stalls of supermarkets as well as in the souks and markets, the prices of foodstuffs fluctuate so much that the economic mechanisms for determining prices are no longer authoritative.
Indeed, to see the rate of price variation, it is clear that traditional economic factors such as inflation and excess demand are no longer sufficient to justify these tariff levels fueled by the speculation of certain traders.
These excesses have also been the subject of a recent communication from the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) which points the finger at the responsibility of intermediaries in the rise in prices and calls for the regulation of their role and the reorganization marketing channels.
Asked by MAP, the president of the National Federation of Consumer Associations, Ouadie Madih, prefers to speak of “stability” instead of a “drop” in prices which, according to him, will certainly not return to previous levels.
“It must be said that the Moroccan consumer finds himself in a delicate situation where incomes are stagnating and the cost of living is increasing,” he lamented, trying to explain the current high cost of living with a triple shock.
In addition to the systematic rise in prices during the month of Ramadan, there is the international inflationary context and the drop in rainfall which has impacted all the agricultural sectors for several years, he said.
Mr. Madih mentions another factor, no less influential, which is that of fraud committed by certain traders, thus accentuating the rise in food prices. “When demand exceeds supply, some merchants give in to the greed and take advantage of this imbalance to increase their margins,” he said.
To cope with this “exceptional” situation, Mr. Madih called on consumers to rationalize their spending, review their consumption habits, and prevent waste, because they are partly responsible for the rise in prices.
And to add: “Households must be reminded of their rights and obligations and how they should behave during the month of Ramadan (…) we also invite them to adopt a reasonable attitude in their purchasing and consumption behavior. to be able to combat the high cost of living”.
However, government authorities seem concerned about the issue of citizens’ purchasing power and have been mobilizing for weeks for a return to normal, or at least stability, in food prices.
“The prices of certain food products have risen in recent days due to weather conditions,” the Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah, recently indicated.
However, the Minister assured that these prices should stabilize or fall thanks to the expected increase in the pace of production over the next few days to be within the reach of all citizens.
In anticipation of an imminent return to normal prices and in the hope that the various players in the food supply chain become aware of this situation, it is time for consumers to question their consumption habits, which should not be dictated solely by price.
By Zin El Abidine Taimouri (MAP)