Residents of Torit town said they are suffering from the rising prices of foodstuffs in general especially meat at the market.
A kilo of meat was being sold at 700 SSP two weeks ago, but currently prices range from 1,000 SSP to 1,400 SSP.
Ilulung Rose, a customer at Torit market, told Radio Tamazuj on Sunday that she sometimes returns home without buying any meat due to its scarcity. She accused butchers operating in the market of only favoring those who buy meat in large quantities and neglecting poor people.
“As you go to the market to buy half kilogram of meat, you will not get because people who need a lot of kilos are the ones who take the whole meat. The meat sometimes gets finished and you go home with nothing,” Ilulung said.
She added, “A kilo of meat is being sold now at 1,400 SSP, but in the past it was 700 SSP per kilo and half kilo was 350 SSP. Now this price is only for the wealthy people who can buy, but majority of us who are poor will remain suffering”.
Lucy Abau, another buyer, also complained of the high prices of meat. “Everything now is expensive. A kilo of meat is now sold at 1,000 SSP and this is not good. I will just buy greens,” Abau said.
For his part, the head of butchers in Torit, Papa Paul admitted that meat is being sold at different prices to make profits. He said cows are expensive and this explains the rise in meat prices.
“A cow, which is equivalent to 50kg, is sold at between 70,000 SSP and 80,000 SSP. Even if you put a kilo of meat at 1,000 SSP, it will not buy a cow. The government should look into these issues,” Paul said.
The deputy mayor of Torit municipality, Stephen Albert Attari said the traders’ justification to increase meat prices is not genuine. He urged traders to sell meat at 700 SSP as authorities assess markets.
“As government, we must control market prices. We shall follow up this week, but we need to go with the price of 700 SSP,” Attari said.
He added, “Our role is to monitor and organize the market and if there is any addition, it must be something small like 100 SSP on top”.