Sun, 02 Jul 2017 10:34:51 +0000
By NATION REPORTER
EXPORT deals worth US $100 million were recently signed between Zambia and grain traders of Eastern Africa for the export of 382,640 tonnes of soya beans, maize and other grains by Lusaka, Finance minister Felix Mutati has confirmed.
Mr Mutati said the deals were sealed in Lusaka during a regional Trade Facilitation Forum organised by the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) in collaboration with Zambia Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE), with support of USAID’s East Africa Trade and Investment Hub and USAID’s Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub.
He said the forum brought together over 195 sellers and buyers of maize, soya beans, common beans, millet and other grain commodities from, Burundi, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“As a government we declare that we will no longer have any export bans and we announce the removal of 10 per cent export tax on all grain commodities,” Mr Mutati said.
He also said that Lusaka would ensure the simplification of export processes, and work with all governments in the region to support regional trade and to reduce on the rules on the certificate of origin.
At the same forum ZAMACE executive director, Jacob Mwale, said the Commodity Exchange was devoted to support the buyers and sellers through the provision of a standard trade platform.
“ZAMACE is committed to providing warehouse certification services and the issuance of negotiable warehouse receipts to the stakeholders,” he said.
And director in charge of Agriculture and Agribusiness with the East Africa Trade and Investment Hub project Yohaness Assefasaid that he was happy that the forum had resulted in significant regional trade which has linked Zambian suppliers with buyers from East Africa to improve the food security in that region.
“Thanks to the hard work of EAGC and ZAMACE, our regional partners, 1.3 Million families in the EAC region will have access to affordable staple foods as a result of the over 380,000MT grains traded today,” he said.
Currently, the Eastern Africa region was suffering an acute shortage of food grains, including maize and soybeans following poor harvest resulting from erratic rains experienced during the planting season in 2016.
