High beef prices in Kenya hurt consumers, traders
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E-mail Xinhua, August 18, 2012
High beef prices in Kenya hurt consumers, traders
NAIROBI, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- With considerable drop in fuel prices, a stable shilling and decline in inflation, many consumers in Kenya anticipated prices of major food items will fall significantly.
The cost of most food items in the East African nation have declined as expected to the relief of buyers, but some are still unaffordable.
Notable among the food items whose prices remain stubbornly high is beef. Price of the food item, which is among the most revered meals in the East African nation, has kept it out of the plates of most Kenyans.
A survey in various suburbs in the capital indicated that a kg of beef is going at between 4 U.S. dollars and 5.1 dollars.
And as prices of many other items in Nairobi, beef prices vary depending on the area where the meat seller is located.
In high cost residential areas, a kg of beef is going for 5.3 dollars, in middle-income areas at 4.5 dollars while in low-income areas meat sellers are selling the same quantity at an average of 4 dollars.
"The price of beef has not come down for many months. We only experience increases. Most meat sellers have passed the increases to consumers," Peter Njeru, a trader in Komarock said on Friday.
Njeru, who runs a butcher in the suburb, sells a kg of beef at 4.2 dollars.
"I have maintained that price for about 6 months despite our suppliers increasing twice. This has reduced my profits but it is better I make something small than nothing at all because if I hike prices, people will not buy," he said.
However, despite attempts to maintain low prices, Njeru as many other meat sellers in the capital, are not recording brisk business.
"People do not buy meat as much as they used to do before prices increased. This has seen our sells reduce and sometimes we incur losses since meat goes stale," he said.
Njeru observed that most of his customers rarely buy a kg of meat.
"They complain that the price is high. Some have turned to other sources of protein like fish and milk while others have forfeited eating meat," he said.
To try and encourage residents to buy beef, Njeru, as many other meat sellers across Nairobi, sells the commodity in small quantities. His customers can buy beef from as low as 0.2 dollars.
"Customers do not need to buy in normal quantities of a quarter a kilo, a half or one kilo, we measure beef depending on one's pocket. If somebody wants beef worth 0.2 dollars, I will sell him, " he explained.
Njeru recounted he bought a weighing machine that allows him to sell beef depending on the needs of his customers.
"I was forced to abandon the normal weighing scale and turn to a new machine, which works like the ones used in petrol stations. You key in the amount of money one wants and then cut the corresponding size of beef," said the meat seller.
During the interview, a young girl saunters into the meat shop and asks Njeru to sell her meat worth 0.3 dollars. Njeru keys in the figure in the weighing machine and sells the girl the beef.
"I would not have sold her meat if I was using the standard scale because that machine does not allow one to sell such kind of quantity," he said. Most people who visit his butchery, according to Njeru, buy in small quantities.
"A day sometimes ends without someone selling a kg of beef. Most people buy less than that quantity," said Njeru, who buys beef from wholesalers at Burma market on the outskirts of the city center.
And due to low sales, Njeru does not buy a full cow. "Most of the time I buy 40 kilos, which cost me about 133 dollars. I cannot afford a full cow, which depending on the size price varies between 210 dollars and 330 dollars. It is cheaper to buy a whole cow," he noted.
It takes him at least two days to complete the 40 kilos that he buys. "This forces me to incur storage costs since I have to put the meat in the fridge," he said.
Moses Kimbara, a meat seller in the capital noted that beef prices shot up sharply last year when drought ravaged most parts of Kenya.
"Most animals, especially in North Eastern died since there was no pasture. It takes time before livestock farmers replenish their stocks," he said.
Kimbara does not foresee meat prices falling in the coming months because of a predicted food shortage in the East African nation.
But it not only price of beef in the East African nation, which has gone up. Prices of goat meat, pork and chicken are also high.
A kilo of goat meat and pork costs an average of 5.2 dollars while chicken goes for an average of 5.9 dollars in most wholesale markets in the capital. Enditem
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