Govt to keep a close eye on mealie meal price

Agriculture and Livestock Minister Given Lubinda has assured the nation that government will closely monitor the price of mealie meal in the country and will not accept anything less than what has been agreed with millers.

Mr. Lubinda has told Parliament in a ministerial statement today that during the meeting he held with Millers on the 18th and 19th February, 2015, they agreed on many modalities aimed at maintaining the price of mealie meal and possibly lower the price further.

Mr. Lubinda says it was agreed with the millers that the maximum price of a 25Kg of Breakfast mealie meal should be sold at not less than K61 for breakfast for a 25 kg bag and K44.00 for roller meal.

He says retailers along the line of rail should stick to the agreed prices because the increase in prices will not be tolerated.

And Mr Lubinda says FRA has sufficient maize stocks to meet the country’s national requirements.

Mr. Lubinda says the FRA has a total of one million two hundred and eighty one thousand metric tones of maize stock, while the private sector has over 156, 000 metric tones of maize.

He says from the figures given, it is clear that mealie meal prices are not high because of lack of stocks but because of the high production costs.

Mr Lubinda says government through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will continue selling maize to the private sector at K76.00 per 50 Kg bag in a bid to stabilize mealie meal prices in the country.