Feared foodstuff shortage in Dar unjustifiable – survey

DESPITE of the persisting shortage of fuel in the country which to a certain extent continues to haunt the economic stance of the people, the supply of food stuffs in the city of Dar es Salaam has remained stable throughout, the survey by this paper can establish. According to a week- long survey in various markets in the city of Dar es Salaam suburbs for instance at Kariakoo, Buguruni, Mwananyamala and Temeke markets, the supply of most foodstuffs such as rice, maize and beans has been consistently going on for the last two weeks since the oil crisis broke out.  The survey has discovered that due to the staggering sale of fuel in upcountry regions, the price for these commodities from the main supplying areas which might have been affected by their supply with the higher transportation costs to the city of Dar es Salaam has remained as they are the main. A kilogram of high quality price is sold at between Sh. 1,750 and Sh. 2,300, a kilogram of high quality beans popularly known as ‘Soya’ from Mbeya region is fetched at between Sh. 1,700 and Sh. 1,800, whereas the price for a kilogram of maize has constantly remained at Sh. 900. The survey has also discovered that the upcountry bus transport fares from the main Ubungo bound upcountry bus terminal in Dar es Salaam have remained intact though most transporters experienced some difficulties to buy fuel to operate their vehicles, owing to the fact that some filling stations in the city of Dar es Salaam are reported to have no fuel stock now for the third week running. There has no increase of transport fare by bus operators to upcountry regions though some operators decided to stop some of their buses from operating for lack of fuel. Reports from other upcountry regions has shown that, the on-going scarcity of fuel commodity has caused fare increase as the commodity have been sold in a black market. The survey was carried with a view to find out the economic implications which might have occurred as a result of the fuel crisis which was first experienced since the Energy and Water Utility Regulatory Authority (EWURA) announced the monthly decrease of the indicative price quotations for oil products in early October.  The industry regulator had in early October cut the price of petrol which is being used by most transporters in the country by Sh. 306 (equivalent to 13.30 percent) to Sh. 1,994 per litre down from Sh. 2,300 as it was sold in the previous month. It had also lowered that of diesel by Sh. 192 (8.96 percent) to Sh. 1,993 compared to Sh. 2,142 sold in September. Some players in the oil industry had on Wednesday this week attributed the shortage of fuel in some parts of the country to low prices for petroleum products set by the industry regulator as compared to import charges. They were quoted as saying that, setting prices of petroleum products below import costs is to blame for current fuel shortage in the local market. However, they noted that, the recent indicative prices announced by EWURA are lower than prices quoted by the importer of oil through Bulk Procurement System (BPS) and this according to them has resulted the shortage in the local market. Efforts by the government to get rid of the situation has proved a success in mid of this week after it had awakened industry stakeholders  including key players by taking effective control measures that aimed at remedying any possible escalation of the crisis which is likely to disrupt people’s economic activities. On its move to curb the looming fuel shortages, one step by the government is that, it has instructed Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to immediately sell the available fuel stocks to upcountry regions so as to avert serious shortage being experienced there, which according t EWURA there is a stock of 80 million litres.