5 November 2008
THE prices of mealie meal and other foodstuff have continued to skyrocket despite the reduction in fuel prices.
But the Government has accused millers of unjustifiably inflating prices.
In Lusaka, the price of mealie meal has shot up from about K56, 000 to K61, 900 per 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast while roller meal has been pegged at K51,000 from K49, 000 for the similar quantity.
Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) executive director Harrison Banda attributed the mealie meal price increases to the high maize prices.
In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Banda said the millers were getting maize at $410 per tonne, which translated into about K82,000 per 50 kilogramme bag using the prevailing foreign exchange rate.
He explained that the price of maize and its sources were a major factor in the price of mealie meal and it could not be mitigated by the reduction in fuel prices.
But Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, Sarah Sayifwanda said that the millers should explain why they were increasing the price of the staple food when they procured the maize cheaply.
Ms Sayifwanda said there was no justification in the claim by the millers because they had been encouraged to buy the crop directly from the farmers around the country.
She said millers were supposed to be Government partners and what they were doing was tantamount to sabotage and wondered if they wanted to bring the Government down.
"The millers had caused the Food Reserve Agency to increase the maize prices from K45,000 to K55,000 because the millers were offering better prices," Ms Sayifwanda said.
Ms Sayifwanda said what was happening was not healthy and she would convene a meeting with MAZ upon arrival from India where she was scheduled to go this week.
A 25 kilogramme of breakfast from Simba No. 1 and GBM Superior Milling was being sold between K60,000 and K61,900 in most of the shops at Northmead Shopping Centre.
Roller meal was being sold for between K49,500 and K52,500 for the same quantity while a 10 kilogramme of Gold Star and Choma Milling breakfast was pegged at K29,000 from K25, 000 in the townships.
At BP Express Shop in Longacres, a 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast was being sold for K61,000 while bread has also been increased to K4,300 from K3,900 at the same shop.
A 25 kilogramme GBM breakfast bag of mealie meal is selling at K61,900 while a 12-and-half kilogramme is going for K33, 800 at Melissa Supermarket in Northmead and Longacres' Rendezvous Supermarket.
The price of a two kilogramme sugar has been increased from K8,000 to K10,000 while a one kilogramme packet is fetching between K5,500 and K6,000 from the initial K5,000.
In Ndola, various milling companies, bakeries and retailers in various residential areas showed that the price of mealie-meal has been raised between K5,000 and K9,000 while the price of bread has been increased by between K500 and K700.
Meanwhile, some retailers were cashing in by inflating the price of the commodity from the official K62,000 per 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast mealie-meal to K68,000.
All the milling companies, apart from National Milling, which was waiting for instructions from the company's headquarters in Lusaka, have increased the price of mealie meal.
Chimanga Changa Milling Company, spokesman Auswell Nyoni said millers on the Copperbelt were forced to increase retail prices of mealie meal due to a combination of factors.
He cited the factors as the increase in the prices of bags of maize from K45,000 to K55,000 per 50 kilogramme bag, limited supplies of maize, the fluctuating exchange rate and high costs of production, among others.
In some retail outlets in Kaloko, Mushili and Twapia townships, a 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast is now being sold at K68,000.
Before the price hike, which was effected on Monday, a 25-kilogramme bag of breakfast mealie meal used to cost K57,000, while the similar quantity of roller meal used to cost K46,000.
In Kitwe the price has shot up to more than K60,000 for a 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast due to the erratic supply of the commodity in most retail shops in the town.
A survey yesterday showed a number of major retail shops including Shoprite had run out of mealie meal while a few that had the commodity were selling between K62,000 and K63,000 for a 25 kilogramme breakfast bag.
At Chisokone Market, vendors took advantage of the shortage of mealie meal to increase the commodity to K70, 000 for a 25 kilogramme bag.
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