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Millers Association of Zambia agree to reduce mealie meal prices after a meeting with President Michael Sata

By editor
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President Sata
President Sata

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President Sata
President Sata

The Millers Association of Zambia who met President Sata today in a closed meeting, to discuss measures to stabilise the price of mealie meal, have agreed to reduce the price of Mealie Meal. In a statement made available to the media by State House, the millers have agreed to reduce the prices as follows:

[TBS_ALERT color=”success” heading=”Mealie Meal Prices”]

  • Breakfast 25kg; wholesale price K47,000 [KR 47], retail price K50,000 [KR 50]
  • Roller meal 25kg; wholesale price K35,000 [KR 35], retail price K38,000 [KR 38]

    • [/TBS_ALERT]

    During the meeting at State House this morning, President Sata advised the millers to guard against exploitation of the poor people who they rely upon for their industry to thrive.

    The President said it was not the intention of the Government to introduce price controls but that the state had a duty to protect the masses against manipulative practices by unscrupulous businessmen.

    President Sata, who encouraged millers to open sales depots in townships to minimize the high prices charged to consumers by some traders, reiterated the Government’s support for measures that encourage responsible business conduct by both millers and traders.

    The Head of State further emphasized the need for millers and the Government to work together as partners in national development and reaffirmed his support to the growth of the industry by reducing the cost of doing business.

    The PF Government has undertaken to continue to dialogue with millers to ensure affordable mealie meal prices and food security for the majority of Zambians who rely on it as staple food.

    editor
    editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

    90 COMMENTS

    1. How on earth do people eat powdered maize as a staple food?
      That nshima is awful and I was in zambia recently

      Unforgivable

      yuuuck

      Thanks

    3. Taking a stance for the poor. Mushota, anything you liked about Zambia? Be honest. We know there are many things you detest about your home. Let’s hear you…

      • @ mwamoneni you have to differencient between old K and new KR between now and the time we stop using the old currency. Don’t just say K60 when you mean K 60,000. We have spent money to educate you on this and you seem not to learn.

    4. Summoning a few millers to State House and threatening them with price controls and beating them into reducing prices based on ghastly consequences from the Head of State if they don’t is not only short sightedness, but totally unsustainable.

      If a Miller who was at State house sells a bag to a Kaponya @ K50 who then takes it to a compound where there is a shortage and people are willing to pay for K80, how is the Miller going to police that? Will the Kaponya be summoned too?

      This leadership of threats & intimidation does not work in this century.

      The president needs to sit down with his team and understand what forces are at play. You can’t solve a problem if you ignore the understanding of the issues at play

      • Jinko, I don’t have the answer, I don’t have all the facts to understand the problem. Am sure there are people paid to study these issues and advise the president.

        Definitely threats are not the way to solve any problem. On that one am 100% sure

      • Ba MMD Chief bootlicker Maybe we need to remind you that 2 months ago when millers had shortage of maize in their stock, government came to help them by offloading maize from FRA sheds and sold to these same millers at a very subsidize price so that the commodity can be available to consumers at low price, so MMD chief boot licker there is no need for millers to continue hiking price of Millie mill when same government you are condemning bailed them out. Don’t just condemn instead look at both sides of a coin bwana.

      • Agree BUT consider this too.. a Miller is given subsidized maize at K60 per 50kg bag. He mills it and gets 85% recovery for Breakfast and 95% recovery on Roller. He then sells all byproducts i.e maize bran for stock feed. Ironically he is getting 100% on his 50kg bag that he bought at K60. He then sales half of it or a 25kg bag at K50 meaning he is getting K100 for the bag making K40 gross before milling, bank interest, transport and wages costs estimated at 25%. So he nets K75 and makes K15 or K7.5 on a 25 kg bag or 25% net profit. You can ask any sane man on earth a profit margin of 25% on food items is excessive. Civilized nations aim for 5-10%. The real price should be K35 per 25kg bag for Breakfast and K30 for Roller.

      • what about the price of other foods? am sure nshima needs something to go with it. the only way to overcome food insecurity in this country is to increase food production. the govt’s control of the price of maize is only a short term measure which wont improve food security in the long run.

        the govt needs to start thinking about how they are going to increase food production e.g provide assistance to small scale farmers, set up food research labs.

      • @ mwamoneni you have to differencient between old K and new KR between now and the time we stop using the old currency. Don’t just say K60 when you mean K 60,000. We have spent money to educate you on this and you seem not to learn.

    6. I think the president and his team are just too lazy to get the bottom of the forces at play and solve this problem intelligently. Isn’t there anyone in this government who has brains to think and come up with a solution.

      Blaming the opposition and threatening millers is an easy way out and mark my words , it is not sustainable. As a country we have been down this road, done that and got T-shirts and we know the consequences. It is not pretty.

      The problem at hand require use of the head and not threats and fear. Nobody driven by fear ever provided a sustainable solution.

      It’s time to think guys. I know its asking too much, but it comes with the territory and it is time to step up.

    7. Why not ask one of the millers to say all this tosh?

      looks like soemone is talking on thier behalf, while unathorised

    8. Kudo to the President. MMD Chief bootliker you sound like you are one of the beneficiaries of high prices of millie-meal. Can you show proof of your ranting? We haven’t yet heard anything from any of the miller who attended the meeting neither do we know how many attended.

    9. Man of the People. The President’s concern for the majority poor should be commended by all Zambians. Millers were used to the MMD corrupt way of doing things but now that way is long gone and never coming. It is good that millers are seeing the reality of the nonsense of exploitating the poor under the PF Government. It wont work and they should work closely with the Government and the poor people of Zambia for their business to thrive.

      • Nonses!!
        Definitely PF is not a party for this Era. This is time of science and thought through decisions. what happened to economic advisors of this moron government.
        threats wont do.

        I really feel pity for this President. This man will be depressed. His ministers are busy fighting each other instead of helping their clueless brother on how to go about governance.
        Good luck you poor people who voted for this government!!

    11. Let them publish their cost structure. What we know is that government subsidises production and pays a lot for purchase, storage and transportation of the commodity. Millers and traders just wanted super profits. Well, if the demand is so much why not, yet the govt is there to protect the interests and welfare of all Zambians regardless of status.

      • ABA TONGA focus on the issue at hand and debate accordingly HH where 2050 maybe…..I’m 100% with the advise from the MMD Chief Bootlicker you are spot on my brother thats the way to go and not these tribal myopic HH followers….

    13. I concur wit WTF, Only if all Retailers are summoned to State House, will the ommodity remain stable. Otherwise, the Move is Still ‘Chimbwi no Plan.’

    14. some of th pipo like permlink are vry negative and shows their hate for gvt. do u know how much FRA Is selling a 50Kg bag of maize to millers? dont jst codm,sugst soln as wel.

    15. I don’t mean to upset anyone, just that I don’t like that ‘nshima’ thing, to make it simple. When I ate eat with a spoon, and my nieces were using BARE HANDS to eat nshima I was horrified and amazed, you talk of Zambia having a short lifespan, where there is evident enough, of people consuming something unknown let alone using hands to eat it
      Buildings were much better than exected, Levy Juncion is overpriced but a great idea, Aracdes was ok enjoyed Manda Hill and Woodlands were I meet someone who asked me If I was Mushota from LT. I can’t remember his name
      Overall Zambia was expensive, where people get money to build those houses and drive those cars is a mystery to me

      • Mushota Mushota Mushota…you sound like a very well articulated fellow but very misinformed. Different cultures and societies eat differently chop sticks, forks and us we eat using our hands after washing them. We use our hands not because we can’t afford forks etc but because its our culture and we choose to. Your coming here and talking down to like you re doing is insulting. We never invited you here we shall appreciate if you stay where you are. You make yourself sound like a loser by throwing spite at those who work hard and build and buy fancy cars you can’t afford. Just come back and struggle as the rest of us

    16. Sata fyaume.Awe fyasolva mwe.The hardest thing for any president is trying to fight companies and corporations.Thumbs up

      • are you thanking yourself for being stupid or an ***** or both. nothing you have said is positive except crap coming out of your mouth. we dont need people like you on this blog if you have nothing positive to say then keep quiet.

      • With due respect, how old are you?? And whats your first language, I just wanna make sure if there is any point in explaining or questioning your comments, if you’ve got a boyfriend or partner or waste if you’re married, I truly feel for him, Lord have mercy on poor lad.

    18. Well done sir..these guys wanted to reap hyper profits from the poor Zambians. As the President of Zambia you have the responsibility to protect poor people from raging devils in the mask of a miller. Keep it up sir given that these devils get subsidized maize from GRZ.

      Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.

    19. The president knew what was happening no wonder he summoned them.If it was the other way round he couldnt have done it.He knew the millers were up to something.Otherwise they couldn`t have accepted to reduce the price if the move will mean that they will be making a loss.Who can run a business at a loss anyway ? Companies exploitation of the consumers is as old as prostitution. Open your eyes.

    20. Mr Prof,under MMD the price of 25kg breakfast was kr38. There wer no controls or intimidation invoveld. The guys in government just used their brains to understand the forces of supply and demand.At no time during the time of MMD did the price mealie meal reached kr85

    23. PF has just failed to govern the nation.Mealie meal issues were a thing of the past.
      It was really stupid to vote for someone who has been around all the failure years hence no progress so far

    24. What a demonic way of thinking where u only wish pf to fail so that yo under 5 can win elections!This is de reason why it won’t work because u can’t write off pf based on the period they have spent in government.To HELL with yo jungle politics.

    25. There is very little maize on the market, even if millers reduce their prices, the retailers and black market will still make a killing.

    27. OK ba Mushota, twaumfwa. So you saw nice, big houses and expensive cars pa Zambia? Stay well uko ku Scotland. By the way Ba Mushota, do you still understand Bemba or Nyanja?

    30. Temporary solutions like an SI to control quoting prices in dollars cause a gain which does not last. Suppy inputs on time, produce more maize, collect all the maize and pay farmers on time and all these temporary miller’s price control gymnastics will be a thing of the past. No rocket science here and Mwanawasa and RB understood this fully and the results spoke for themselves.

      • why did banda lose if he understood the economy.theories and practicals are two different things this time the real change has trickled to the poor Zambians unlike RB who embraced the corporate world stole our money by evading taxes.

    31. good move ba sata nomba ka windfull tax kaili ku mamine kwacha rebased kuti yaba ku strong. do somethind ko sa yopa bazungu na machoncholi.

    33. Government offloaded maize from FRA sheds when millers had shortage of maize in their stocks, so surely there is need for miller to continue selling mealie meal at high price when in fact government bailed them out.

    34. This is a bad business, wholesale-47, retail-50, who bares the transportation cost, labour, overheads etc.. Kr3 (k3,000) is not enough margin

    35. This is a no brainier; they are merely sweeping the dirt under the carpet instead of tackling the main underlying issue head on. Populace presidential directives aimed at duping the uninformed will not solve anything in the long term.
      Wake up people!!

    36. Is that what Zambians call national growth and development? Hahahahaha! Let the forces of supply and demand determine the price…. What govt needed to do was to find out which price determinant was causing the price hikes… Govt needs to start understanding and interpreting these economic fundamentals…. Get me clearly here, I’m not talking about PF but the govt of Zambia….

    37. I can’t wait for ukwa to summon all the kaponyas, tutembas & other forces beyound his comprehension to statehouse. Bet the speech might flow like some lunatic on opium.

      Threaten the market and ur toast. Ask your recent favourite adviser kk.

    39. MMD Chief Bootlicker still has a point: the question remains: What was the cause of the maize shortage in the first place?? There already is a projection that the maize yield this season will be substantially reduced (as stated by Minister of Agriculture). There is every likelihood that the unresolved/unacknowledged issues (such as late or non-delivery of inputs, poor FRA storage facilities, late or non-payments of farmers etc) are recipe for a recurrence of this maize fiasco. And Price Controls are nothing but an admission of a failed governing system in this age! But, as Jimmy Cliff sung, “Time alone will tell” how this PF govt will end up by year-end.

    40. Rupiah Banda is a great son of the soil of Africa. RB know that you have the respect of all Zambians our President just be careful of Dictator Sata because he is jealousy of your GREAT achievements

      One thing i know and history has is that, no matter how MUCH FORMER Autocratic one party UNIP Dictator Kenneth Kaunda is praised by the disgraced Illiterate Dictator SATA and PF, Kaunda has never been invited by any country for their national events apart from South Africa

      RUPIAH Banda deserves much respect from all Zambians especially from this greedy evil illiterate Satanist Dictator Sata, who will never get any respect and will be prosecuted even before he leaves office for his corruption and human right abuses

      Communism has never worked anywhere in the world even China has discarded

    41. You are all vikopo. The answer to all this is RB. He knows the PIN code for mealiemeal to remain at 38pin! Invite him not the millers. They are equally ignorant. RB is a graduate in economics and a fountain of wisdom which other countries are inviting him to tap from now.

      • The current government wouldn’t invite RB despite knowing what the bible says, “a prophet is not accepte in his own homeland.” Over countries see some good in RB while our government is still clouded with hate and rage.

    42. The MMD chief bootlicker should understand what a government maize subsidy mean instead of giving fake reasons. The government has every right to control the price of corn flour because it spent money on it. It does not subsidize the maize so that the millers can exploit the consumers, it subsidizes the maize to make the corn flour affordable. The president talking with stakeholders is a sign of maturity not intimidation, if he wanted intimidation he who have revoked licences of some millers. Simple economics, nations subsidize medicines and staple crops to make it affordable to its citizens.

    43. Mushota, you are just broke! Coming from UK and you start claiming that Zambia is expensive?? What happened to the dirt Zambians, you so passionately detest? Home is home!

    44. PF Govt noticed money was wasted by govt on maize marketing in both inflated logistics and thiefts by farmers and FRA workers,the sytem just had to be overholed causing some delays in system connection.The cash lost in maize marketing during RB was five times the value of the maize bought country wide up to now some transporters are yet to be paid by RB.settling down takes some time hope these PF can quickly connect the supply chain.

    45. Agree BUT consider this too.. a Miller is given subsidized maize at K60 per 50kg bag. He mills it and gets 85% recovery for Breakfast and 95% recovery on Roller. He then sells all byproducts i.e maize bran for stock feed. Ironically he is getting 100% on his 50kg bag that he bought at K60. He then sales half of it or a 25kg bag at K50 meaning he is getting K100 for the bag making K40 gross before milling, bank interest, transport and wages costs estimated at 25%. So he nets K75 and makes K15 or K7.5 on a 25 kg bag or 25% net profit. You can ask any sane man on earth a profit margin of 25% on food items is excessive. Civilized nations aim for 5-10%. The real price should be K35 per 25kg bag for Breakfast and K30 for Roller

    46. Offloading subsidized maize may not have the desired effect.The problems I foresee are as follows (1) Retailers may start hooding the cheap meali meal to create an artificial shortage and then end up selling on the black market. (2) Since information in the public domain suggests that there is a shortage this can lead to panic buying by consumers(3)Smugglers will still continue having a field day.(4)An artificial price for maize will in the long run make maize farming unprofitable.My suggestion is that Government should sale maize at the market price but should give millers other incentives such as tax re-bets, lower electricity tariffs etc.

      • OK. YOU SPEAK MORE SENSE THAN MOST OF THE BLOGGERS. BUT SUCH TRADERS MAY MISCALCULATE. THEY MAY END UP WITH LOTS OF MAIZE BUT NO MARKET. THESE WILL BE FORCED TO SELL THE MAIZE OR M/MEAL AT EVEN A CHEAPER PRICE.

    47. In addition to my earlier post it is not a secret that maize is an internationally traded commodity.The price of maize on the CBOT as at Friday 4th Jan 2013 was US$291.04 per metric tone.This translates to about K1,513,408 per metric tone or K75,670.40 per 50kg bag.Clearly from the above offloading maize at K60,000.00 means we are subsidizing our neighbors.Any shrewed business man will simply make a profit by reselling the maize on the open market.The other questions that need to be asked is (1) At what price will FRA purchase maize from farmers next marketing season?.(2) Where will the money come from since they are now selling at a loss?

    48. IWe Draifishi, RB is not a graduate of Economics, but a graduate of History of Economics.Distinguish the two qualifications.Infact his qualification is now extinct only dinosours have them.He needs to retrain. I also did history of chemistry as a subject in my BSC course of Chemistry(BSc. Chem.) we chipuba iwe.Wise up you dimwit.

    49. RB is a crook together with his mmd thugs.Who told you we have maize shorted? Mealie meal prices are controlled by market forces and to some extent ease of logistics to get the products to the end user.Maize marketing is riddled with all mannw=er of crooks that were tolerated by RB mmd thugs.

    50. This is a tempral solution. The president’s advisers should look at the problem on a global scale. The major grain producers have had a bad farming season. Not only will maize prices rise, but also wheat and rice (most agric products). The mistake that PF made and now beginning to reap the storms of bad policies is when they rewarded cadres with maize exports thus putting pressure on the grain reserves. What is happening is closing the barn after the horse has already bolted. With alot of our own grain exported the deficeit can only be covered by importing grain and this will be at a high cost (check commodity markets). The current prices will only be maintained at high government subsdies. Do not be surprised that the Euro Bond loan will cover such subsidies.

    51. THE CONDEMNATION BY THE OPPOSITION OF THE MOVE BY THE PRESIDENT IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. THAT IS THE REASON WHY WE SAY THE OPPOSITION IS PRACTICING ‘PULL HIM DOWN’ KIND OF POLITICS. AN ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEM SUCH AS MAIZE MEAL CANNOT JUST BE LEFT TO THE MARKET FORCES ALONE. AND THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN PRACTICING PRICE CONTROLS ON MAIZE FOR A LONG TIME. IT JUST DOES IT IN A DIFFERENT WAY. BY SUBSIDISING FRA MAIZE. WHEN THE PRICES OF M/MEAL STARTED GOING UP THE OPPOSITION WAS VERY HAPPY THINKING THAT SATA WILL FAIL TO ADDRESS THE SITUATION. THEY EVEN ARANGING FOR PUBLIC RALLIES. NOW SATA HAS ADDRESSED THE PROBLEM AGAIN THE SAME GUYS ARE SAYING. THIS IS PRICE CONTROL BLAH..BLAH..BLAH. PLEASE JUST WAIT AND SEE HOW SATA WILL MAKE ZAMBIA A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN. POOR OPPOSITION POLITICS OF…

    52. I am glad for writing to make you be aware of what a excellent encounter my friend’s princess encountered using your webblog. She realized some details, which include what it is like to have a very effective giving style to get the rest with no trouble learn about selected very confusing topics. You truly exceeded her expectations. Thank you for showing the necessary, healthy, educational and also easy guidance on the topic to Ethel.

    53. I commend the President for the stance he has taken. This was indeed an act that is beneficial to the average poor Zambian. I salute you sir for standing up for us the poor

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