The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka has said the price of bread will inevitably fall as wheat harvesting intensifies, The Sunday Mail reported.
Due to shortages of wheat, the retail price of bread shot up earlier this year to about US$1.30.
Authorities say the country expects a record 380 000 tonnes of wheat against a national requirement of 360 000 tonnes.
Addressing journalists on Friday, 30 September 2022, Minister Masuka said:
To cushion consumers with affordable flour and bread, the price of wheat to millers by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) will be reduced by 4,4 percent from US$680 per metric tonne to US$650 per metric tonne, payable in the ratio of US$33:$67 (33 percent payable in US dollars and 67 percent in local currency).
The price also takes into consideration macroeconomic fundamentals and the likely impact of the floor price on the exchange rate, and the price of commodities such as flour and bread.
With the bumper harvest that has a surplus to our local requirement, it means we are going to export some of our soft wheat in return for the 30 percent hard wheat, which is a smart way of doing business because we will not need foreign currency to import.
What this means is, once we have enough flour at a reduced price as tabled by the Government, the flour price and bread price will eventually drop.
He said wheat and wheat flour imports will be suspended as the country anticipates self-sufficiency in domestic requirements.
Masuka also announced prices of wheat pegged in US dollars with an ordinary grade of wheat slated at US$620 per tonne while the premium grade is US$682.