The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) said that some manufacturers withhold products to create shortages in order to push up their prices.
This was confirmed to Business Times by CZR president Denford Mutashu, who said they told President Emmerson Mnangagwa that manufacturers have a tendency to create artificial shortages on the market. Said Mutashu:
It is quite disturbing that selected suppliers are withholding products and this has been done mainly on products whose prices are negotiated with the government.
There are certain products like sugar, bread and cooking oil whose pricing is negotiated with the government. Therefore as you have observed, whenever there is a shortage of the product, when the product resurfaces, the price is usually higher.
Sugar, bread, cooking oil and mealie meal are some of the products which suddenly disappear from supermarket shelves and then reappear after prices have been steeply hiked.