06 Aug 2013

The Minister of Trade and Industry has urged stakeholders in the wheat industry to prioritise it.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting recently, Ms Dorcas Makgato-Malesu said stakeholders must discuss the wheat levy in order to determine the future of the wheat milling industry.

She noted that her ministry had been dealing with complaints from bakeries to remove the wheat levy, among others, while millers lamented challenges relating to power outages which affected supply to their customers.

 Ms Makgato-Malesu said some of the concerns raised included quality of the flour supplied by local millers, importation of bread loaves by chain shops, sale of bulk quantities of bread to customers by in-house bakers and millers importing their products as opposed to manufacturing them locally.

 She explained that a National Committee on Trade Policy Negotiation commissioned a study on the assessment of the impact of the wheat levy through the Botswana Exporters Association (BEMA) and another study was later done by BEMA.

 However, the outcome of the two studies, she said was contradictory and a task team was constituted to meet and reconcile the two reports which recommended that the wheat levy should continue for a period of five years.

 The report also recommended that a midterm review be undertaken and that millers and bakers should come up with incentives to support the former.

She said wheat flour milling was first protected by the infant industry protection under the 1969 Southern African Customs Union in the 1980s and upon its expiry, a 15 per cent levy was instituted under the control of goods, prices and other charges act in 2003.

She said measures were introduced to address the alleged dumping of wheat flour into the local market by South African suppliers, at the same time, a restriction on the importation of bread loaves and pie pastries was introduced to support the local bakeries to take full advantage of the local market. ENDS