25 millers to seal mealie meal pact
‘‘About six millers have so far signed the tripartite deal which consists of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), Grain Traders Association of Zambia (GTAZ) and MAZ aimed at reducing mealie meal prices.’’
ABOUT 25 more millers will soon sign the tripartite deal that will see a further reduction of mealie meal prices on the market.
This is according to the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) chairperson, Andrew Chintala.
Mr Chintala said about six millers had so far signed the tripartite deal which consists of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), Grain Traders Association (GTAZ) and MAZ aimed at reducing mealie meal prices.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Chintala emphasised that a further reduction of mealie meal prices was expected once 25 millers were on the deal.
“Only few millers have signed. There were a few other administrative issues that were being addressed by FRA and GTAZ and these issues have been finalised so we hope see more millers signing these contracts and coming on board.
“According to information from FRA, about 25 more contracts are going to be issued and immediately these millers sign the contracts, you will be able to see the impact on the market. There will be another list of millers as we go,” he said.
Mealie meal prices are currently prevailing around K160 per 50kg bag of breakfast on the market.
Mr Chintala said the deal was structured in a way that only miller’s buying maize from GTAZ at K235 for a 50 kilogramme were allowed to access subsidised maize from FRA.
He however complained that the maize prices were still high.
“The deal would be that millers buy maize from GTAZ and get a subsidy from FRA to cushion the impact in terms of prices. When you get maize from GTAZ at K235 for a 25 kg bag of maize, then you qualify to access subsidised maize from FRA and reduce mealie prices by at least to K130 per 25kgs at factory price.
“At the start of the season the price we were offering was between K115 and K120 now that price has gone to K235 so that is what has impacted the market in terms of prices shocks for mealie meal and stock feed,” Mr Chintala said.