Zimbabwe running out of bread

HARARE – Zimbabwe could soon face bread shortages after the country’s major producer said it was left with only two days of supplies, a state-run newspaper reported yesterday.

Lemmy Chikomo, operations director of the bakery firm Lobels, attributed the bread shortages to a critical lack of wheat and flour, which has forced the company to scale down operations. “Flour availability has deteriorated and this has forced us to use our strategic stock since May,” The Herald quoted Chikomo as saying on Tuesday.”Now we are only left with two days’ supply.We have used all the 4 000 tonnes of flour that we had as reserve stock.”Chikomo also said that wheat stocks were fast running out.”Once we get wheat we are home and dry, we will produce,” he said.Since May, Lobels has been releasing about 200 000 loaves of bread per day to the market, but this has drastically dropped to 40 000 a day, Chikomo said.The bread shortages come at a time when the southern African country is failing to pay for 36 000 tonnes of imported wheat that is docked at Beira, Mozambique, due to lack of foreign currency.”Our Bulawayo branch, which normally employs 254 people, stopped operations on August 25 as a result of acute shortages of flour,” he said, adding that in Harare 1 500 workers were also sent on forced leave pending an improvement in the availability of flour.Since June, when the government ordered a price slash on goods and services, bread sections in many stores across the country have remained empty.Retailers sell a standard loaf of bread at 30 000 Zimbabwe dollars, which is US$120 at the official rate but just US$1,30 on the parallel market.Zimbabwe’s annual wheat requirement is about 400 000 tonnes.There has been a consistent deficit since its land reforms of 2000 which led to the departure of about 4 000 white farmers and triggered a slide in agricultural output.It currently imports about 265 000 tonnes.Nampa-AFP”Flour availability has deteriorated and this has forced us to use our strategic stock since May,” The Herald quoted Chikomo as saying on Tuesday.”Now we are only left with two days’ supply.We have used all the 4 000 tonnes of flour that we had as reserve stock.”Chikomo also said that wheat stocks were fast running out.”Once we get wheat we are home and dry, we will produce,” he said.Since May, Lobels has been releasing about 200 000 loaves of bread per day to the market, but this has drastically dropped to 40 000 a day, Chikomo said.The bread shortages come at a time when the southern African country is failing to pay for 36 000 tonnes of imported wheat that is docked at Beira, Mozambique, due to lack of foreign currency.”Our Bulawayo branch, which normally employs 254 people, stopped operations on August 25 as a result of acute shortages of flour,” he said, adding that in Harare 1 500 workers were also sent on forced leave pending an improvement in the availability of flour.Since June, when the government ordered a price slash on goods and services, bread sections in many stores across the country have remained empty.Retailers sell a standard loaf of bread at 30 000 Zimbabwe dollars, which is US$120 at the official rate but just US$1,30 on the parallel market.Zimbabwe’s annual wheat requirement is about 400 000 tonnes.There has been a consistent deficit since its land reforms of 2000 which led to the departure of about 4 000 white farmers and triggered a slide in agricultural output.It currently imports about 265 000 tonnes.Nampa-AFP