Nominal maize prices sustained stability week‐on‐week in all the monitored markets during the first week of October but continue to remain unusually high compared to seasonal trends. The overall average nominal price of maize was MK225/ kg, similar to the price levels in the previous week and the first week of September. As shown in Figure 1, the highest district average prices per 1kg of maize were observed in Thyolo (MK260), Mulanje (MK255) and Phalombe (MK247), while the lowest average prices were recorded in Chitipa (MK177), Karonga (Mk190), Ntcheu (MK 190) and Ntchisi (MK194). The current average price remains 58 percent higher than the same time last year and 102 percent higher than the three‐year average. Across the 50 monitored markets, maize prices ranged from MK145 to MK260 per kilogram (Figure 2 & Table 1).
Markets with highest maize prices were Bvumbwe in Thyolo (MK260/kg), Chinakanaka and Muloza in Mulanje (MK260/ kg each) while markets with the lowest prices were at Kameme in Chitipa (MK145/kg), Chitipa Boma (MK165/kg) and Karonga Boma (MK180/kg). Despite the continued stability in maize prices, they still remain substantially higher for the season thereby likely to constrain food access for rural households.