2015-06-29Staff Report 2 Windhoek Staple food in Namibia will become more expensive as Namib Mills has announced a price increase of 4 percent effective on July 13, 2015, on maize, wheat, pasta and mahangu products. The company said the price increase is prompted by the hike in levies on these commodities from 0.95 percent to 5 percent, as per Government Gazette No 5681 dated February 27, 2015. According to Namib Mills, discussions and correspondence with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry regarding the decrease of commodity’ s levies were not timeous enough to lower it to the recommended 1.4 percent for the current commodity harvesting year in lieu of the current drought. “A guarantee was requested by the relevant ministry from millers in Namibia not to increase prices of said products for the remainder of the drought in turn for lowering the levies to 1.4 percent as recommended. Unfortunately, we cannot provide such guarantee as we are exposed to international commodity prices, international exchange rates and international weather conditions. We do not have any control over the above market factors, therefore no guarantee can be provided,” stated Namibia Mills. The miller added that the prices of soft commodities on the international markets are known for their high volatility, which make any guarantee impossible. This, they said, left the company with no choice, but to affect a price increase in order to curb further loss of income on the affected products due to the higher levies. 2015-06-29Staff Report 2
