THE Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) says the family basket decreased by $1,38 to $577,77 in May due to a number of promotions by retailers, which saw a reduction in the prices of many basic commodities.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
In a statement yesterday, CCZ said the food basket decreased by 1,30% from $133,80 by end-April to $132,06 by end-May 2017.
“As CCZ, we assume that the decrease in prices has been caused by promotions on various commodities in some supermarkets such as the OK Grand Challenge promotion. Supermarkets are competing to entice and attract consumers to buy from them,” CCZ said.
Decreases were recorded in margarine by 6 cents to 99 cents, mealie meal from $11.85 to $11.83 per 20kg, sugar by 3 cents to $1,85 per 2kg, tea leaves by 5 cents to $1,60, bread by from 70 cents to 65 cents, flour by 5 cents to $1,75 per 2 kg, tomatoes by 6 cents to 74 cents, meat by 15 cents to $4,25 per kg.
Increases were recorded in cooking oil by 6 cents to $1,45 per 750 ml, rice by 13 cents to $1,98 per 2 kg, salt by 3 cents to 28 cents, onions by 10 cents to $1,25, cabbage by 17 cents to 92 cents per head, bath soap by 9 cents to 69 cents.
Increases were also recorded in detergents by 36 cents to $11,71.
The price of milk, washing powder and laundry bar remained unchanged from the end-May figure.
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Where the products were not certified, consumers were urged to exercise their right to information by carefully examining if the products they were purchasing were well-labelled, packaged and provided with vital information such as manufacturing and expiry dates and ingredients used in the making of the products.
The consumer lobby group conducts a survey twice, during the first and the last week of every month.
The price of each commodity was arrived at by averaging prices gathered from retail outlets throughout the country.
