The Daily Hustle: At Nawruz and Eid al-Fitr, a shopkeeper reflects on high food prices

I’ve been a shopkeeper in Kabul’s Mandawai market for 20 years. It all began with a small shop I opened using money borrowed from friends and family. In those early days, I didn’t have the funds to keep my own stock and relied on the largess of wholesalers in the market who I borrowed goods from to sell. Gradually, I grew my small shop into a thriving dry goods store with a reputation for reasonable prices and quality products. I have a loyal customer base and have even hired several people to work for me.

Over the years, I’ve shared many ups and downs with my customers. Little boys and girls, who initially came to my shop with their parents to buy food for the house and provisions for the Eids, have since grown up, got married and have children of their own, who they now bring along when they come to my store. My story isn’t just about my personal success or how I grew my little shop into a successful wholesale business, it’s about my city and the community I’ve served for the past two decades. It’s the story of our shared journey through times of plenty and times of hardship.

Two overlapping holidays

We do most of our business during the three Eids: Eid al-Adha [the Feast of Sacrifice, which falls on the last days of the Islamic lunar year], Eid al-Fitr and Nawruz. This year, we have a double celebration, with Nawruz beginning in the ten days of Ramadan and overlapping with Eid al-Fitr.^[1] As usual, business picked up during Ramadan, but unlike the years before Afghanistan’s government changed, people are more cautious in their spending. They come from far and wide to the Kabul Mandawi to buy the things they need because they get wholesale prices, so generally, things are cheaper. You can see all the crowds and the hustle and bustle in the market, but our sales don’t come anywhere near what they were in the years of the Republic. Back then, the economy was doing well and people had more disposable cash, so they were more likely to spend money freely and buy more things for the holiday. Now, with the economic downturn, people are struggling, most families are having trouble making ends meet. Some can’t even afford to buy bread, so, of course, they’re more careful with their spending when it comes to luxuries for Eid.

Afghanistan imports nearly everything, so fluctuations in the exchange rate directly affect food prices because we pay for our goods in US dollars, but our sales are in afghani. This year, the prices of things imported from Pakistan were even higher because the Torkham border crossing was closed for a couple of weeks. Also, people use much more foodstuffs during Ramadan, so the border closure meant that many things became either difficult to find or simply unavailable.

Almost everything costs more

My shop is doing better than many others because we sell food and people always need to eat. But people can’t afford to buy what they used to, and that’s hurting our sales. The prices of basic items like flour, rice and oil have gone up and on top of that, market prices are volatile because the afghani is not stable against the US dollar. When the afghani goes up, prices fall and when it drops, prices go up.

I had a look through my books so I can give you an idea of how much prices have gone up this year compared to 2021, when the Republic was still the government.^[2] As you can see, everything costs a lot more, but, at the same time, people have lost their income or are making less money. The household maths just doesn’t add up.

The only exceptions to food costing more are locally produced products, like dried fruits, which are a staple food in all Afghan households. For example, a kilo of almonds, which sold for 800 afghanis (USD 11) in 2021, now costs 600 afghanis (USD 8.50) and the price of a kilo of raisins has fallen from 500 afghani (USD 7) to around 200 to 250 afghanis (USD 280 to 3.50) – that’s for the best quality raisins. But this doesn’t mean people are buying more dried fruits and nuts. There was so much demand for them in the past that we couldn’t get them into the shop fast enough. They used to fly out of the shop and, sometimes, there were even shortages. But people who used to buy almonds and raisins by the sackful are now limiting their purchases to a kilo or even a few grammes.

The same reluctance to buy in volume is true of other food. The Mandawi is a wholesale market, so people generally come here to buy in bulk. In the past, customers would buy flour and rice by the sackful. Now they’re buying in the kilogrammes. I have customers who used to buy several sacks of these food items for Eid, not only for their own households but also to distribute to the needy. Now, even these customers are only buying what they need in their own house – a ser (seven kilos) here and half a ser (3.5 kilo) there. This never used to happen during the Republic. Eid is supposed to be an occasion for celebration and a time to show generosity. But here in the Mandawi, we can tell how the poor economy has devastated even those families who have an income, making them unable or disinclined to spend more than they strictly need to.

The high cost of doing business 

The vendor explained that these are difficult, uncertain times for all Afghans. Their shrinking purchasing power means they often have to do without. For shopkeepers, he said, domestic and international pressures have created unstable market conditions, making them reluctant to make big investments like keeping a large inventory:

The economy’s been hit hard by the end of foreign investment, and businesses are suffering from the flight of domestic capital out of the country. The IEA’s raised customs tariffs and introduced higher taxes, eating into our profit margins and pushing up our prices. As good businessmen – not to mention good Muslims – we don’t want to see our customers paying exorbitant prices for the basic necessities of life, but we are businessmen and the math has to make sense. Although the Emirate’s been promising to reduce taxes and tariffs on basic food items, this hasn’t translated into less money being paid to the taxman yet. They keep putting price caps on certain items, which means we’re having to forgo offering them for sale because the cost of having them in the shop often outstrips what we can charge for them.

The restrictions on banking have also made it more difficult for traders to buy product abroad. Since we can’t transfer funds using the banking system or open letters of credit, we have to resort to middlemen who charge steep fees to facilitate the transfer of funds and business transactions, but we have no choice but to use this route if we want to keep in business.

A time for reflection and hope for a brighter future 

I wish I could say the future looked bright, but at the moment I’m not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. Still, this is Eid al-Fitr and Nawruz. They’re not just about visiting loved ones and eating good food. They’re also a time for reflection and the renewal of hope, a time to have hope in the future and trust in God’s plan. So while it’s difficult for me to see it, I have to trust that a better future is in the works, waiting just beyond the shadows.

Edited by Roxanna Shapour and Kate Clark

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