The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu has ordered bakers to follow up on their products and ensure that they are sold at the Government gazetted price, which was agreed on by the bakers association following the wheat price reduction.
Minister Ndlovu’s warning comes after the price of bread short to $ 4 in some areas while other retailers were selling it at $3.
In an interview, Minister Ndlovu said Government and the Bakers Association agreed that a standard loaf shall be sold at $ 1.40.
“I have spoken to the representatives of the major suppliers of bread in the country and they have told us that their price has not changed. So it then means that these are now retailers who are profiteering. I gave them an instruction that they begin to follow their products and they should not continue supplying people who are profiteering because it also compounds the challenges we are facing. Government is doing a lot to assist the business community.
“We agreed that they would buy the wheat at import parity price which we had to reduce given that earlier on they had suggested a price. So we reduced it to the one they requested but on condition that the price of bread does not exceed $1.40. If anything they told us they might consider reducing the price,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said the bakers had also informed Government that there was a shortage of flour from the millers. He however, said there was adequate wheat at the Grain Marketing Board.
“I am meeting them tomorrow to also get an assessment of what is happening in the sector because they are also indicating that they are having challenges of shortage of flour supply. But we have enough stocks of wheat at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB),” he said.
