• We are concerned about the price of bread which has been going up.
• Millers are buying wheat in dollars depending on prevailing exchange rate against the dollar.
• Prices of wheat products will go up to about K800 for a 50kg bag of flour which will be extremely high for Bakers.

Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has called on government to hold a consultative meeting with stakeholders in the wheat industry to address high flour prices which have resulted into escalated bread prices.
Association Executive Secretary Juba Sakala told Money FM News that the organization is deeply concerned with the price of bread which has been going up in the recent past.
Mr. Sakala stated that investigations carried out by the Association revealed that the price of bread has been rapidly increasing because Millers are buying wheat from the local farmers in US dollars depending on the prevailing exchange rate, a situation he says tends to be more expensive.
He disclosed that prices of flour are expected to go up in the coming weeks to about K800 for a 50kg bag which will be extremely high for Bakers and Consumers due to rising exchange rate, a move which will push the price of Bread higher than the current cost.
“As a result of this, we decided to carry out our own investigations which revealed among others, that Millers are buying wheat in dollars depending on the prevailing exchange rate against the dollar from the local farmers which tends to be more expensive, and if they import from South Africa, Customs Duty of 15% is too high and adds to the cost of the commodity thereby greatly contributing to the continuous rise price of flour and its products.”
“Our investigations also revealed that some local wheat farmers are hoarding with the view to start selling their wheat on the price of imported wheat immediately the imported wheat finishes,” Mr. Sakala said.
Mr. Sakala said there is need for government through the Ministry of Agriculture to engage Bakers, Millers, Local Wheat Farmers and Consumers in order to put an end to the use of the US Dollar currency by Local Wheat Farmers to Millers, High import duty, High tariffs on Electricity and water, because these factors determine the high cost of production.
“To this effect, ZACA is calling upon Government through the Ministry of Agriculture to hold a stakeholders meeting comprised of the Bakers, Millers, Local Wheat Farmers and Consumers so that a lasting solution is found with the view to creating a win-win situation by addressing a number of issues such as putting a stop to the use of the dollar currency by the Local Wheat Farmers to Millers, High import duty, High tariffs on Electricity and water among others because these are basically determining the high cost of production to everyone. So if Government can convene a meeting soon, this will save Consumers bearing in mind that bread in Zambia is a second staple food to maize meal,” he stated.