Elita Chikwati

Agriculture Reporter

Wheat prices on the international market have increased from US$415 to US$450 per tonne, a move that is likely to impact on the price of bread in the country.

Covid-19 has disrupted the shipping of the commodity while other countries have decided not to sell their wheat due to the uncertainty brought by the pandemic, resulting in the reduction of supply on the international market.

Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) chairman, Mr Tafadzwa Musarara, yesterday confirmed the development, but said local bread price increases will not only be caused by the rise in wheat flour prices, and also a range of issues in the value chain.

“A number of countries have reduced the amount of wheat they are exporting because of the uncertainty brought by Covid-19.

“For almost three months, there has been no movement of ships.

“There is a huge backlog and this has created a supply gap and obviously where the supply is low, prices go up naturally, affecting the world market,” said Mr Musarara.

“Locally, the jump is more than 10 percent.

“We are only doing 4 percent because we have lots of wheat which we are mixing with.

“We have our own challenges.

“The increase in bread prices is sorely not attributed to the world market.

“We have our labour, fuel and electricity, among other costs.”

Mr Musarara said the industry was grateful to the Command Agriculture programme, which increased production of wheat to meet nearly 50 percent of the national requirement.

He said GMAZ was working with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture Water and Rural Resettlement, Cabinet Committee on Grain Mobilisation and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to monitor and manage the situation.

“We have a firm wheat supply pipeline where we are importing the cereal for two main reasons which are, to cover for the deficit arising from local wheat production so that we meet the 400 000 tonnes’ national requirement and the second reason being that of enhancing the quality of bread flour,” he said.

National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe chairperson Mr Dennis Wala said flour was a major component in the production of bread, but the issue of pricing was not only based on wheat supply or international prices, but included many things along the value chain.

“The movement of the price of wheat on the international market will have a bearing on the price of bread but there are other factors that come into play, for instance fuel, electricity and labour costs.

“The increase in the price of fuel will also see production costs rising.

“If wages are increased, there will be an impact on production costs,” he said.

Zimbabwe requires 400 000 tonnes of wheat annually to ensure a reliable supply of bread and other confectionaries.

Farmers delivered 157 000 tonnes of wheat this season, 3 000 tonnes shy of the targeted 160 000.

This represents an increase from the 60 641 tonnes that were delivered in the same period last season.

About 69 percent of the wheat achieved a premium grade while the balance fell into the utility grade.