Malawi loses 140 000 tonnes of maize
Malawi has lost 140 000 metric tonnes of maize between January and to date through informal exports, the Grain Traders and Processors Association (GTPA) has said.
GTPA says it feels vindicated with the prevailing ‘terrible’ maize scarcity, arguing that it had forewarned government of severe consequences in the aftermath of government ban on maize exports.
GTPA chairperson Grace Mijiga Mhango in an interview on Monday said official figures show that since January, informal traders have exported 80 000 metric tonnes of maize through the ‘Southern corridor’ and that about 60 000 metric tonnes has been exported to Tanzania, Kenya, among others, through the Northern Region borders.
She said the 140 000 metric tonnes of maize lost is just an official figure, but it could be double if unrecorded exports are taken into account.
“We had alerted government on the situation. The [Sadc] region is experiencing maize shortage, and the worst being east Africa. The problem is that Malawi maize is the cheapest and traders are selling their maize at a higher price in other countries than here,” said Mhango, adding that Malawi had a lot of maize, but informal maize has sold it all.
She said based on the association’s figures, Malawi’s maize is being sold at $151 (about K60 400) per tonne which, she said, is the cheapest when the region is selling a tonne of maize at $250 (about K100 000), hence prompting local maize merchants to prefer selling out their maize outside Malawi.
According to Mhango, Zambians are buying Malawi maize at $260 (about K104 000), way above the price offered in Malawi, per tonne.
“What would stop someone from Mchinji to sell out his maize to Zambia with such a situation? We are sitting on a huge problem. There is no maize in Malawi. It is a terrible situation,” she lamented.
Mhango said Malawi has the capacity to manage the food situation by planning based on the market dynamics, “but we wait for a crisis for us to respond.”
She also blamed the worsening situation on government’s ban on maize exports which, she said, prompted traders to use informal routes to export their maize, thereby denying the country official foreign exchange.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Professor Peter Mwanza, in a telephone interview yesterday, pleaded for more time to look into the maize informal trade statistics as meted out by GTPA.
