Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Bulawayo Bureau
8 August 2007
Harare — A STALEMATE over the reserve price on more than two tonnes of ivory which was supposed to go under the hammer last week resulted in the auction being abandoned after the buyers decided not to take the available stocks.
Those at the auction said buyers did not like the high reserve price, a minimum price, set by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
They said up to May the Parks Authority was selling a kilogramme for $225 000 and the price went up to $1 million in June.
According to a document prepared by the auctioneers, Desired Liaison Auctioneers (Pvt) Ltd, the auction was open to licenced ivory manufacturers and highest accepted bidders would be declared the purchaser, subject "to the reserve price".
He said 35 lots were supposed to go under the hammer but nothing was bought because the highest cash offer that the buyers were prepared to pay was $1,5 million per kilogramme, an amount the auctioneer did not agree with.
Thirty-five ivory manufacturers had been invited.
Commenting on the aborted auction, the Parks Authority spokesman, Retired Major Edward Mbewe, dispelled suspicion that the authority was trying to evade the Government directive on price controls.
Rtd Major Mbewe said according to the authority's regulations the auction had been carried out "although the buyers decided not to take what was on offer for reasons best known to themselves".
He said the authority would not give in to demands from the buyers to reduce the price of ivory as it was indicated sometime ago that the prices would be increased periodically depending on the situation on the ground.
"We have been selling our ivory at very low prices compared to other countries in the region and the world over. Internationally, ivory is being sold for over US$800 per kilogramme while in the region the price is about US$250 per kg.
"All along we have been subsidising indigenous businesspeople but we now feel they have come of age to stand on their feet.
"There is international criticism that we are selling our commodity at far below the expected levels and to meet some of these expectations we need to charge viable prices for our ivory," he said.
Rtd Maj Mbewe noted that people were losing sight of the fact that the department had costs to meet such as training game rangers, storage of the ivory, pumping water for the elephants and other animals, among other costs.
He said each water engine pump needs about 400 litres of diesel per month and his organisation was running at a loss due to the uneconomic prices they charged for their services and commodities.
Zimbabwe resumed trade in ivory after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora lifted restrictions on the sale of the commodity at its 14th conference at the Hague, Netherlands in June.
The convention threw out a proposed 20-year ban in ivory trade, and instead reduced that to nine, and allowed a one-off sale of the commodity to Japan.
Kenya and Mali, both with depleted elephant herds, had presented the proposal to ban trade in ivory for the next 20 years.
The two countries expected that a lengthy ban in ivory trade would help them re-build their elephant herds, depleted through massive poaching.
The bid by Kenya and Mali was also targeted at Botswana and South Africa.
Zimbabwe has an elephant population of 100 000 against a carrying capacity of 40 000.
Rtd Major Mbewe said a document produced by CITES had expressed concern at the fact that Zimbabwe was selling its ivory very cheaply compared to other countries.
"We do not want to jeopardise ourselves in organisations like CITES and we will not budge on our price for ivory.
"When the ivory manufacturers see the need to buy the commodity they will approach us and we will gladly assist them. As for now we will not budge on the decision we have taken to have a reserve price," he said.
Ivory, he noted, was not a basic commodity as its manufacturers produced what they sold to tourists in foreign currency.
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