MAZ anticipates hike in mealie-meal prices

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THE Millers Association of Zambia says an upward adjustment in the price of mealie-meal will be inevitable following the revised maize floor price from K65 to K70.
Following the revised floor price by the government last week, initial reactions from a wide spectrum of stakeholders, namely: the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), and some of its affiliates including the Poultry Association of Zambia (PAZ) said that the K5 increment was inadequate in view of the rising costs of production and rate of inflation.
But MAZ president, Allan Sakala, said there was a general consensus among millers that an upward adjustment in mealie-meal prices would be inevitable following the increment in the floor price to ensure the costs of production were met.
“The consensus is that if the minimum price of the raw material maize will be at K70, it will be inevitable to adjust the price marginally to reflect the cost of production. As the maize parcels start dwindling out and the price of K70 becomes the standard, we will be competing for the few tonnes of maize, so we might be offering a little bit more than the K70 and that means automatically the prices will be adjusted upwards,” Sakala said in an interview.
He noted that owing to the bumper harvest and the forthcoming crop marketing season, the impact of the raised floor price on mealie-meal prices might not necessarily be immediate.
“Depending on how we are purchasing and at the beginning of a season when farmers are desperate to offload, you might not see an immediate impact in the price increases; they might remain stable or even go a bit lower. But going into the maize-buying season, prices will not be spiked because there will be so much maize being offered and eachmarket player will be competing for the little market to sell to,” said Sakala.

The Post Zambia

2 COMMENTS

  1. But y? Since we hv a bumper harvest. Is the law of supply and demand not applicable in this country?

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