Letter from Tehran: Shame, Despair and Astronomical Food Prices

The coronavirus pandemic and the dire economic situation made worse by excessive inflation have all taken a toll on Iranian citizens. A citizen journalist using the pseudonym Firouzeh Khalkhali talked to some Tehran residents about what their lives have been like in recent weeks. They report that the price of groceries has shot up, and that they have less to choose from then they once did. Compared with the past, their purchasing power is extremely low.

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“During Ramadan, we don’t eat sweets,” Mr Attarzadeh said. “But what about meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, chickpeas, and peas, which are necessary goods? They must be a reasonable price. Can someone on a salary of 2.5 million or three million tomans [between $104 and $125] live with these prices? Or think about getting married, for example? It’s impossible. People may want to get married, but in the current situation, no one dares. There are some very good young people; I have young son at home. But they cannot get married. The authorities should see what it’s like, and spend one day in the shoes of ordinary people. Will they find it possible to live? They are unable to regulate the price of chicken and eggs, even after all these months."

Ms. Saberian, who is middle-aged, said it’s no longer possible to buy food from take-out restaurants. "Soup and stew have become very expensive and I have not bought any sweets yet. No one can buy anything. They can’t. They have to cook at home.”

Mr. Mousavi talks about how different life is these days, and about the rising prices. "It is increasing all the time. I wanted to buy fruit, but I realized I couldn't afford it and that I had to go home, ashamed in front of my wife and children. I used to buy three kilos of tomatoes but now I have to buy half a kilo. We buy carrots and cucumber one by one. We do not have any purchasing power. We have to pay our rent as well, and everything keeps going up."

Ms. Kermani Moghadam tells a similar story to that of Mr. Mousavi. First they bought less, she said, and, little by little, they have had to eliminate certain items from their shopping. “Everything becomes more expensive and the result is that the people's cupboards becomes emptier, until they have nothing in them. We keep removing things from our lists: we can’t eat this or that. Not only dairy — everything has become more expensive."

Ms. Pourmohsen is an elderly woman, and she is worried about her grandson. "Each store has different prices. I bought eggs for 32,000 tomans and now I see 27,000 tomans written here. We have nothing. My meat is gone, my chicken is gone, how can I buy any of it? My grandson lost his mother and he is with me and doesn’t have a job. I also suffer from a thousand pains and illnesses because of the grief."

"The price increase is not only for dairy products, it’s for everything,” Mr. Salehian says. “The price increase will definitely affect the volume of our purchases. Our dairy purchases have decreased compared with before."

"The union sets a price and we have to sell at that amount, but each region has its own price," says Pouyan, a dairy seller. "We sell a pack of milk for 7,000 tomans; we buy it between 6,100 and 6,200 tomans. The nylon material we use for packaging, which was 50 tomans last year, is now 200 tomans. A dish we used to pay 200 tomans for is now 700 tomans. Well, this lowers our profit and we have to charge the customer for packaging, which reduces the number of customers. We bought milk for 6,700 tomans for May. We will have to raise the sale price again. At the moment I sell butter for between 90,000 and 95,000 tomans per kilo. Top-quality cheese has increased in price by 200,000 tomans. The situation for people has worsened a lot since last year. Last year I sold 300 kilos of milk in two days; now I sell 200 kilos of milk over three days."

Ms. Hashemi, an elderly woman, also has complaints:  "I can no longer afford to buy dairy products all at the same time. I buy them separately now because they are so expensive. I buy yogurt and then after that, I buy milk. We are retired and have to pay rent and we also have to pay for a wedding.  Sometimes I can’t buy dairy products at all; we managed without for a week. I have osteoarthritis and should always have milk, but sometimes I can’t. Our dairy and meat and everything else have been reduced. Cheese, too, has become extremely expensive. I tell my husband to eat less to save money."

Watch IranWire citizen journalist interviews with Tehran residents about the {{ __192381_videocomponent__video component__ }}" style="">rising cost of food, the frustration of returning home {{ __192382_videocomponent__video component__ }}" style="">empty-handed, the challenges of {{ __192383_videocomponent__video component__ }}%5D" style="">supporting a family and what it’s like to be a {{ __192384_videocomponent__video component__ }}" style="">shopkeeper in the current economic climate.

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