WHITE MAIZE PRICE UP BY 14.7%

MBABANE – The price of maize has gone up by 14.7 per cent and 7.69 per cent, respectively.

The selling price of white maize has gone up from E3 487 to E4 000 therefore reflecting an increase of 14.7 per cent per metric tonne according to independent calculations by the Business Desk. Meanwhile, buying price of white maize ballooned from E2 600 to E2 800 which was an increase of 7.69 per cent.
The National Maize Corporation (NMC) has announced that the new prices for the next three months came into effect yesterday.

The corporation explained that while every effort was made to contain the costs that affect the maize price in the country both buying and selling, the country remained cognisant of the fact that Eswatini is a net importer of most of its commodities.
Therefore, the acquisition costs associated with white maize could not be wholly suppressed due to external shocks which from time to time required for the local requirements to be supplemented.

“In informing the white maize price, consideration was made to ensure that local producers are able to recover their production costs and traders buy at competitive prices thus improving competitiveness of the local maize industry,” NMC announced.

It was explained that price increase followed a meeting held on March 26, 2019, where the Maize Advisory Committee made recommendations to the Ministry of Agriculture to review the maize price in accordance with Section 4 of The Control of Cereals, Act No 28 of 1959 as read with Legal Notice No. 218 of 2017.

Further, it was pointed out that episodes of high prices and extreme volatility were a major threat to food security in developing countries. It was disclosed that the impact falls heaviest on the poor, who may spend well over 80 per cent of their income on food.

Shocks

“This means that negative shocks in agricultural prices especially of staple food like maize make poorer countries more vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity. We believe the country’s view on the agricultural posture as being the major contributor into the economic growth will steer the attention towards the country to being self-sustainable in terms of commodity production thus wad off the net importer status” added NMC.

It was also put into perspective that the analysis on maize price volatility in Eswatini whose agriculture was characterised by low productivity mainly due to low investment and dominance of rain-fed subsistence farming practices continues to feel the pressure from external shocks as a result of being a net importer of maize from neighbouring states particularly the Republic of South Africa.

“The negative outlook perceived in the United States of America due to consistent rains coupled with the weakening local currency against major currencies is having a significant effect on the maize price,” added NMC.

It should be mentioned that Eswatini’s  maize production shrank by 58.9 per cent to 33 460 metric tonnes from 81 623 metric tonnes in the previous season as a result of El drought that affected the entire southern African region.

The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has reported that the impact of the drought was evident in most parts of the country as fields remained uncultivated and unplanted.

The 2015/16 season was characterised by below long-term average rains over most parts of the country as a consequence of an El Nino induced drought that affected the entire Southern African region.

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