Millers have urged the government to issue out only grain permits, not mealie-meal ones, in order to protect local industry from cheap imports.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI Government, together with the private sector, plans to import about 700 000 metric tonnes of maize to cater for deficits as a result of a poor harvest.
However, according to Sunset Marketing executive Victor Mhondera, there were companies that were issued with permits to import mealie-meal, a move he said would kill local industry. Sunset Marketing is the sister company of poultry producer Drummond Ranching.
“As you are all aware, the whole region is experiencing food security challenges because of the maize deficit we have at the moment. Zimbabwe has a deficit of about a million tonnes, so to augment that, the government has opened up borders issuing permit imports to allow companies to import mealie-meal from outside the country,” Mhondera told NewsDay.
“That is good, but the process needs to be managed because at the same time we have got a local industry that needs to stay intact and competitive. What we are saying is that as the government works through the challenge of ensuring food security in Zimbabwe, where the local millers are able to step up with the support of the government, we will prefer a scenario where grain permits alone are issued, not permits for finished products.”
He said the milling industry advocated a close engagement process between government and stakeholders in the milling industry to ensure that whatever policies emerged would not crowd out other benefits as well.
“Let’s make sure that those policies are holistic and work both for the public that need food and for industry that we are trying to develop and maintain,” Mhondera said.
Mhondera said Sunset currently operating at full capacity was posed for significant growth.
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He said there would be a stronger Sunset and Drummond presence in the Midlands and Harare where it had made some acquisition that “will enable us to increase the capacity to draw closer to the market”.
At a food conference last week, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said that the country was looking forward to import about 450 000 metric tonnes of maize from Zambia and the rest from South America.
The country’s human and livestock maize consumption is pegged at about 2,4 million metric tonnes annually.
