Since early January 2025, a milk shortage has hit Bujumbura, the commercial city where United Nations agencies and the central administration of Burundi are concentrated, leading to a surge in prices and tensions among consumers. While the origin of this situation remains unclear, suppliers are talking about the action of a mysterious buyer who is monopolizing the market.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to the little information gathered from suppliers, a man known as « Munyarwanda » is buying large quantities of milk at a price well above the market price.

« He went to some farmers in Buringa, where some cows produce more than 70 liters a day, and offered them an advance by buying a liter for 3,000 francs, » says a milk supplier in Bujumbura. « But no one really knows where he is sending this quantity. »

Buringa, located on the outskirts of the city, is an area where there are many cattle farms. According to some unconfirmed rumours, this buyer is selling his stock in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A surge in prices

With this shortage, milk prices have increased considerably. « Before, we bought a liter for 2,200 francs to resell it for 2,800 francs. Today, it costs us 3,000 francs, and we are forced to resell it for 3,500 francs. Our customers are complaining about it, » explains another supplier we met in Buringa.

In cafeterias and other sale points, the increase is even more marked. A liter is now sold there between 4,000 and 4,500 francs, and in some neighborhoods, it even reaches 5,000 francs.

The situation is all the more worrying as the persistent fuel shortage further complicates the supply of milk.

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Shelves reserved for milk in a food store in the commercial capital Bujumbura, February 2025 (SOS Médias Burundi)