MAIZE SHORTAGE AT NMC, MEALIE MEAL PRICES SOAR

MBABANE – Eswatini is short of maize due to NMC’s inability to import it from South Africa (SA).

This is because some millers have revealed that the storages maize at the National Maize Corporation (NMC) are almost depleted. They argued that their trucks, which were sent to collect maize from NMC storage facilities, were being turned back empty on a daily basis. This is despite that advance payment for the maize had been made in December 2022. The frustrated millers said they had been facing the problem for quite some time.

Failure

One of them, who preferred anonymity, alleged  that the NMC storage facilities were empty due to the parastatal’s failure to import maize from neighbouring SA. “We are always told to come back the following day and when we do, we are told the same story. They usually say they are expecting the arrival of trucks from SA,” said the miller. The miller further said they were currently living from hand to mouth due to the unavailability of maize at NMC.

He also revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture and the millers once convened a meeting, before the end October 2022, where the millers raised a concern that they were experiencing a shortage of maize. They further pleaded for permits to import maize to fill up their own silos. He said they were told that they would have to pay about E1 000 per tonne of imported maize. He said this implied that they had to pay about  E34 000 per truck, which he said was too expensive for them.

“This would have increased the consumer prices by 15 to 20 per cent and, because of this, we are expecting an increase in mealie meal prices,” stated the miller. Another miller alleged that they were being forced to pay a certain levy in order for them to import maize. The source stated that they relied on NMC for importing maize. Furthermore, the impeccable source pointed out that they had recently checked SA’s maize pricing and, to their surprise, discovered that NMC had a 30-day grace period.

Miller

“Because of NMC’s failure to honour the 30-day grace period, I suppose this has resulted in some suppliers now trying to run away from the parastatal,” stated the miller. It was said that SA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mexico by which the neighbouring State would now export their product to the North American country. Another miller said he suspected that there would be scarcity of maize in Eswatini for the next six months (which is harvesting period).

Another miller wanted to know from NMC why it had no maize in its storage facilities across the country. She stated that this was now a national concern, which needed to be resolved with immediate effect. The miller further stated that in a normal situation, it should be easy for NMC to supply millers with maize, even if trucks failed to deliver for a period of three months.

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