MAZ chairman Andrew Chintala said in an interview yesterday millers valued the concerns raised by President Lungu about mealie-meal prices and appreciated his wish to engage them over the matter.
“We have also been concerned about the prices and we are happy that the pronouncement to engage us has come from the head of State himself since we have been having discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture over the same,” he said.
Mr Chintala said the challenge the millers are facing is the increase in the maize prices, being the only raw material, which was trading at about K2,600 per tonne.
He said the increase in the prices of the mealie-meal had been created by the fact that maize was only available with traders on the open market.
Mr Chintala said each miller decided the price of mealie-meal depending on how much the traders had decided to sell their maize to them.
“Things could be better if the Food Reserve Agency were supplying maize to us instead. I, however, believe a solution will be found after our meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture today [yesterday],” he said.
Mr Chintala said consumers also should be careful not to be exploited by some mealie-meal dealers who exaggerated the prices.
He said traders should also be engaged because they were the ones holding on to the grain and that a win-win agreement should be reached among all those involved in the supply chain of the commodity.
It will just end in discussions & nothing will be done to reduce the prices of mealie meal. The worst is coming soon after the invasion of maize stocks by army worms.
By the way, how much is mealie meal today? Very simple question but PF bandits of visionless Edgar will be mute. What about the economy & load shedding, are they in anyway better or worse? Believe PF bandits at your own perils.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
Who is minister of maize meal ? 100pin ka 25 kilo?
As long as the whole line of grain production, storage and marketing is not studied and expertly assessed part solutions will not stabilize or solve the staple food crisis! The longer lasting solution will only start dawning if government can systematically and critically address the workings of the supply and demand chain starting with access to land on which maize is produced, labour, costs of inputs (seed, fertilizer, other chemicals), marketing and, incentives hitherto. Maize production is a business which must yield profits as any other business for those who engage in it and not be taken as a charity to mostly city dwellers who are mainly consumers!
The economy is at play here, do you need to be a rocket scientist to interpret whats going on. Free market economy, means that the price will be determined by the forces of demand and supply. Your gullible leader has removed subsidies and now he is wondering how the prices are going up? Wait until the price reaches 200 zmw per bag then you will dance pelete.
The talks will amount to nothing….believe me. Thanks MMD for having controlled the mealie meal pricing. We are now in trouble. Talks or no talks with the President, nothing will change. I am always never negative but I am very factual.
Yet the Lazy Bum wasted $200m importing Solar Hammermills from China….discuss what?
But we were told that mealie meal from Lungu (ZCF) solar millers was costing K45.
The rule of Demand and Supply is supposed to determine the prices of goods. The higher the supply the lower the price, on the other hand the lower the supply the higher the price. In Zambia’s case I suppose the supply is high and therefore the price ought to be low, ( Reference to the exportation maize deals to Malawi that were made/done by Government)
If the supply is low, why did we export maize to Malawi? I am aware Malawi is a small country, but if they need more maize why not let them use some of our land on condition that they pay for that. much easier
imwe ba LT my flag please? Bikeni po iya ku Zambia