Grain Millers Refuse To Sell Mealie Meal On Credit
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) has said large-scale retail shops are having low stocks of mealie meal because they want the product on credit terms.
GMAZ president Tafadzwa Musarara told State media that millers are buying grain cash up-front from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) therefore they cannot sell on credit terms to supermarkets.
Musarara said large retailers should pay cash upfront or at least cash-on-delivery to enable the millers to remain viable. He said:
GMB requires us to pay 100 percent upfront for grain. In view of this, we are unable to give credit terms to anyone including the mainstream retail shops. This explains why stocks are low in these mainstream shops.
It is not disputed that the country has adequate supplies of maize and wheat and the milling industry’s capacity dwarfs demand.
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The major challenge is the issue of exchange rates between the USD and the local currency.
Musarara said millers were supplying all retailers using the Zimbabwe dollar price, and they had no control over the rate that shops use in their outlets.
He said the reason why mealie-meal was easily accessible in smaller outlets, was that they paid for deliveries upfront.
The Zimbabwe dollar has been in free-fall against major currencies in the past few weeks and on Tuesday, 06 June, the rate was $3 673 against the US dollar, down from $2 577 last week.
On the parallel market, the rate was reportedly between $4 500 and $6 000 depending on the amount being traded.
More: Pindula News
