The last item on Askalech Debele’s holiday shopping list is chicken, and she needs three of them. Askalech, a housewife and mother of 12, is in her early 60s.

“I had been preparing for the holiday for the past week and have bought all the other food items I require," Askalech said.

She made her way to Shola Gebeya, along Dejazmach Haile Selassie Street, and into Debebe Kenfe’s corner shop to buy the chickens of her choice. What followed was a fierce haggling which nonetheless ended when Debebe relented and sold Askalech her three chickens for 230 Br a piece. The price he got was within the margin of what he has been selling his chickens for, 200 Br to 300 Br before Gena, Ethiopian Christmas, arrived.

It was neither an improvement nor a markdown of the price of chicken during the last Ethiopian New Year for him. But it was also a significant reduction from that of the previous Genawhen chickens were going for an average price of 350 Br.

Debebe sold 20 chickens in the early days of the week before Christmas, and he is sure the closing of the holiday will bring more customers.

As Askalech was finishing up her holiday shopping, many others were just getting started at Shola Gebeya, one of the most popular marketplaces in Addis Abeba where products as diverse as teffand electronics equipment are sold.

One of those was Yemiserach Boka, a public servant in her early 30s who did not have enough time to begin shopping early. First on her list was a kilogram of butter, which she bought for 250 Br last Thursday, January 3, 2018.

“It’s the same price as that of the New Year,” she said, having set aside 5,000 Br for a holiday. “I know it is a bit much for a single holiday, but Gena is special as it coincides with my daughter’s birthday.”

She bought another kilogram of Ayib, spiced cottage cheese, for 100 Br from Shewalem Shamif’s shop. Shewalem agrees with Yemiserach’s assessment of the market, saying the price of dairy products has been stable this year.

But there is an increase from last year’s Christmas when she sold both butter and Ayib at a 20pc descount.

A food item that showed an increase was red onions, sold for an average price of 25 Br a kilo this holiday compared to 17 Br last New Year.

This is not because of inflation, according to Shemelis Girma, a vegetable shop owner at Shola.

“The onions available this holiday are better in quality,” he says. “That is why the suppliers pushed the price.”

Garlic, for its part, was sold within the range of 40 Br to 45 Br a kilo, not showing an increase within the same period.

“Most of the major spices used for the preparation of Doro Wot [chicken stew] have not shown an increase,” Shimeles told Fortune. “In fact, korerima[Cardamom] has gotten cheaper, at 250 Br a kilo from 300 Br.”

Berbere, a powder made from red pepper, did not show any price difference from the beginning of this year either.