Editor,

RE: "Mixed fortunes for Kigali shoppers” (The New Times, July 21).

Perhaps in comparison with the other price fluctuations it might seem to you as if a 50 francs drop in price from 650 francs is not much of a heap of beans (pun intended), but that is a steep 7.7 per cent price drop in just a fortnight.  

While this is great news for Kigali's consumers, just try to imagine the other side of the ledger: the losses likely to be incurred by the various parties down the supply chain. Someone somewhere up and down the supply/distribution chain either benefits or loses from sudden steep fluctuations in market prices.

City food buyers would, of course, love nothing better than perpetually declining food prices. In the long term, though, that might negatively affect food supplies as farmers incurred perpetual losses and getting forced out of business. Thus relative price stability in food markets is preferable for all concerned than these huge swings in prices of staple foods.

Mwene Kalinda