Back to school

Prices of school materials soar
-Situation blamed on short supply due to congestion at Douala port
According to most parents there has been a sudden rise in the prices of some school materials during this period of back to school. Traders attribute the price increase to acute shortage in supply of these materials, especially exercise books due to importation and clearance hurdles at the Douala port
By Sarah Nkongho, Ekumtambe Eku and Njodzefe Nestor
The prices of some school materials especially exercise books and school bags have witnessed a sudden rise during this back to school period. Parents say they are obliged to disburse more money than they expected to obtain these materials for their school going kids who must resume classes on Monday, 8 September 2014, after a three-month holiday.
    According to reports filed in by our reporters on the field, the price increase is a national phenomenon. Most traders and shop owners attribute the price increase to the short supply of these materials in the market.
    “I do not understand why exercise books should be in short supply during this back to school period. This was not the case in passed years. Even whole sellers from whom we replenish our stocks also complain of limited stocks,” said Ikechuku, a trader at the Buea main market, who added “we are not the only ones to have raised the prices of exercise books. We are simply applying the prices that are imposed on us by whole-sellers.”
    Ikechuku explained that at the Mboppi market in Douala from where he gets his goods the whole sellers have increased the price of a carton of books by between 1000 to 1500 frs depending on the quality of the books.

    “If you observe well you will notice that the many children and hawkers who used to go about selling exercise books have virtually disappeared from the streets. This is because they know that the prices of books would not be attractive to buyers,” corroborated another book vendor at the big mop market in Great Soppo, Buea, who noted that the book market is not as lucrative as it used to be in precious years.
    According to Bougeau Joshua, a whole seller at the Mboppi market, there appears to be a problem with the importation of books.
    “Importers who supply us have run short of their stocks. We do not understand why. Most of the imported exercise books on the market are the old stocks that were imported since last year,” Joshua said, expressing fears of a likely scarcity of exercise books in the near future.
    This short supply of imported exercise books has caused an upsurge in prices throughout the country. It should be noted that most students especially those from well-to-do homes prefer the imported exercise books, and they are ready to buy the books at whatever price they are sold.
    “Imported books are in very high demand by students. This high demand has led to price increases as a consequence,” said another book dealer at the Melen market in Yaounde, who explained that the prices of books vary according to their pagination and quality.
    Due to the scarcity, imported exercise books of 400 pages now sell for between 1000 to 1200 frs, while those with 300 pages sell at between 800 and 1000frs etc.
    For their part, importers attribute the scarcity of books to the difficulties encountered in the process of importing and clearing containers at the Douala port due to a long standing congestion at the port.
    “The containers of books we ordered since several months ago have still not arrived the port. This is because many ships are refusing to come to Cameroon because of the congestion at the Douala port. Even the containers that have arrived are not easily cleared due to congestion and other bottlenecks at the port. So all the stock of books you find in the market are remains of old stocks that were left in our warehouses,” said Tamu Moses, an importer in Douala, who explained that the congestion at the Douala port is posing a serious hurdle to importers for over 8 months now, with the negative consequences this has on the national economy.
    “Many of us who placed our orders since March and April are yet to receive our goods. In normal situations these goods should have since arrived and put on the market,” Tamu regretted further.
    Taking advantage of a bad situation, the lone home company that produces books, Safca has also raised the prices of its stocks.
    With this unfortunate situation, parents are the ones who suffer the most. And the situation is not made good by the low salaries paid to government workers and employees in the private sector. Many parents have therefore resorted to obtaining back to school loans if only to come out of a tight situation.