The National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe (NBAZ) is reported to have held secret consultations to increase the price of a single loaf of bread to $4 – $5. The bakers who recently increased the price of bread by 10 percent, want the price to be pegged against the United States Dollar citing a lack of foreign currency for the purchase of inputs. NBAZ president Ngoni Mazango told the Sunday Mail,
As an industry, we have a challenge of foreign currency like other industries as well. We are not getting enough (foreign currency) allocations from the Reserve Bank…People are asking in either US dollars or some are multiplying using current exchange rates, which have shot up…(The price of) flour might have moved slightly from about $31,50 to around $36,50 per 50kg bag, but bread is not made by flour alone. We do not manufacture bread fat here in Zimbabwe; there are also enzymes, spare parts for our plants and even for service vehicles, which are also imported or bought with foreign currency. We require between $4 million and $7 million United States dollars each month and we are getting 20 to 30 per cent of that.
Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) chairperson Tafadzwa Musarara said,
I guess maybe the increase has to do with other raw materials where they have to either pay in US dollars or equivalent prevailing black market rate. But we are selling them flour at 1:1 with the US dollar.
More: Sunday Mail