HARARE, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean millers and bakers on Tuesday increased maize meal and bread prices citing the high input costs.

Zimbabweans have maize meal and bread as their staple food.

The price of a basic loaf of bread went up 84 percent from 1.90 RTGS dollars to 3.50 dollars while in-house bakeries in major retail shops such as Pick n Pay increased theirs by 50 percent from 1 dollar to 1.50.

The price of straight run maize meal went up by nearly 40 percent while refined maize meal also suffered a hefty price increase of about 65 percent after going up from about 9 dollars to nearly 15 dollars.

Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman, Tafadzwa Musarara said recently that the cost of maize meal would go up after the government announced a new and higher maize producer price of close to 70 percent of the previous price.

"There is going to be an increase, we can't stomach the 70 percent," he said.

A manager with one of the major retail shops said more rounds of price increases were imminent with consumers coughing up more for confectionaries, cordials and other soft drinks as the prices rose.

Prices of various food items went up during the week as producers deal with high input costs amid a shortage of foreign currency.