Zimbabwe will import about 200 000 tonnes of wheat this year from Canada to cover a deficit, following lower plantings due to lack of finance and shortages of fertiliser and electricity.
This comes in the wake of a trip by a Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe team to Toronto two weeks ago led by the association’s chairperson, Tafadzwa Musarara, where they met Canadian officials who showed goodwill to enter the deal. That trip will be followed by a delegation from that country to Zimbabwe to sort out transport logistics in two weeks’ time.
“We are most indebted to His Excellency (President Emmerson Mnangagwa) for his stance on Zimbabwe being open for business. They saw him in Davos so negotiations were easy for us even if it was our first business trip in more than 24 years to Canada. We need Canadian wheat, it is the best in the world,” he said.
The success of the five-year import deal, however, hinges on the availability of foreign currency as grain millers are failing to remit $55 million to suppliers, while some wheat purchased in 2016 is yet to be paid for. Daily News
Monday 28 May 2018
ZIM TO IMPORT WHEAT FROM CANADA
0 comments:
Post a Comment