S.African traders seek 50,000 T Zambian maize
Traders from South Africa are in talks with Zambian authorities to purchase 50,000 tonnes of white maize after the government allowed local traders to export additional maize, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Anthony Mwanaumo, the head of the state Food Reserve Agency (FRA), said South African traders had been negotiating the deal since the FRA was asked to export more maize last week.
"We have been talking to South Africans who want to buy the maize. Other buyers from Botswana, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are also interested to buy the maize, but there is no conclusion yet," Mwanaumo told Reuters.
He declined to name the traders, saying it would jeopardize negotiations and no details on prices were given.
Mwanaumo said South Africans had purchased maize from Zambia since the country started to export maize in July.
Zambia is due to export a total of 350,000 tonnes of white maize this year following another good harvest in 2006/07, officials say.
South Africa, on the other hand, is facing a harvest deficit of about one million tonnes and traders in Johannesburg say higher prices there have forced buyers to look elsewhere.
In October, agriculture and co-operatives minister Ben Kapita said Zambian farmers, millers, grain traders and the FRA had been granted export permits for 200,000 tonnes of maize.
Kapita said then that total maize exported in 2007 would come to 350,000 tonnes, including 100,000 tonnes carryover stocks, which had been earmarked for export last year.
Government data released last month showed that the southern African country had more than 600,000 tonnes of white maize in strategic food reserves against a total requirement of 250,000 tonnes, and there were no additional storage facilities.
