Maize meal price up 52 percent, millers cite rising costs

HARARE – Millers raised the price of the staple maize meal by 52 percent on Wednesday, citing rising costs including packaging, labour, electricity and transport.

It is the second price increase within two months.

A 10kg bag of roller meal is going up to Z$1,099 from the Z$1,665 set last month.

Wheat bread flour is also going up 31 percent, the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe said. A metric tonne of flour will now cost Z$215,000, up from Z$164,523.

The increase in the price of flour is set to nudge bread prices higher.

The millers’ chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said: “The coasts of packaging, labour, electricity, transport and imported wheat continue to militate against price stabilisation efforts.

“We assure the consuming public that our scientific computation model remains reasonable, justified and we have been restrained in our cost accumulation.”

The war in Ukraine is causing a “global food inflation crisis which is causing serious headwinds,” Musarara said.

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