Mr Tafadzwa Musarara
Oliver Kazunga, Senior business Reporter
THE move by the Government to scrap imported wheat flour from the Open General Import Licence will boost wheat production as well as improve business for the milling industry, the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) has said.
The millers have commended the Government for the proposed regulation, which is expected to take effect from January 1, 2017.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced the move to amend bilateral rules of origin on flour which grant preferential treatment to flour milled from wheat grown in the country of export.
“It is further proposed that wheat flour be removed from the Open General Import Licence (OGIL). The above measures take effect from 1 January 2017,” said Minister Chinamasa while presenting the 2017 budget in Parliament last Thursday.
The move buttresses Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, which removes several goods from OGIL.
The regulation controls the influx of imported products that are also produced locally.
GMAZ chairman Mr Tafadzwa Musarara said yesterday that the new flour import regulations were an endorsement of their submissions ahead of the 2017 fiscal policy statement presentation.
“We welcome the removal of imported wheat flour from the OGIL. This makes it next to impossible for wheat flour imports to continue.
“Bakers who had already resorted to using 100 percent local wheat, notably Bakers Inn and Proton, have been able to obtain more than adequate local flour, produce high quality bread on the market at the same price with those bakers who had been importing flour,” said Mr Musarara.
Last month, GMAZ clashed with some bakers accused of sabotaging local millers through wheat importation despite the availability of the product locally.
Mr Musarara said GMAZ was optimistic that wheat contract support hectarage will increase next year buoyed by the positive policy change.
“Further, we welcome the proposed amendment on the preferential treatment granted to flour milled from countries that do not grow wheat but have a subsisting bilateral trade agreement with Zimbabwe. This will discourage wheat flour imports and save the local flour milling industry,” he said.
GMAZ and oilseeds traders have already indicated intention to invest $200 million into 150 000 hectares of land under contract farming to scale-up agro-processing in the country.
The initiative by the private sector is being implemented under a project code-named Joint Contract Farming Operation 2016/17 plan for GMAZ and the Grain and Oilseeds Traders Association with the aim of increasing capacity utilisation in the grain milling industry to sustainable economic levels.
The initiative is also targeting at protecting the local grain value chain from the “marauding cheap imports”.
@okazunga