Prices of mealie-meal have been hiked by about 4 to 5 kwacha in Chipata district.
A check by Breeze News in some leading wholesale and retail super markets in town, found a 25 kilogram bag of breakfast mealie-meal which was being sold at 75 Kwacha last week is now selling between 80 to 88 Kwacha.
And a ten kilogram bag of breakfast mealie-meal is being sold at about 35 to 37 Kwacha.
At Kapata market, some traders have hiked the price of a 25 kilogram bag of breakfast mealie-meal from 75 to 79 Kwacha while a ten kilogram bag of the same product is out of stock in most shops.
A 25 kilogram bag of Roller meal is being sold between 60 and 65 Kwacha.
Since government’s decision to remove subsidies from maize in 2013, the price of mealie-meal, which is Zambia’s staple food has not been stable.
The increase in prices of mealie meal also comes after a shortage of the product in Chipata last week.
And there was common at one of the leading shops in Chipata yesterday as some Chipata residents struggled to buy locally produced mealie meal, which is being sold at 65,000 Kwacha.
The product quickly ran out after the residents who were desperate to avoid buying expensive mealie meal swept the whole consignment delivered to the shop.
Meanwhile the Zambian Kwacha has suffered depreciation against the United States dollar.
A check by Breeze Business News this morning found the Kwacha buying at 12 Kwacha 92 Ngwee and selling at 13 Kwacha 17 Ngwee.
The British Pound is buying at 19 Kwacha 58 Ngwee and selling at 19 Kwacha 98 Ngwee while the Euro is buying at 14 Kwacha and selling at 14 Kwacha 32 Ngwee.