Confusion as cheaper maize meal goes on sale

• Millers say they are yet to get cereal for new brand as Ruto unveils retail price

Confusion marked the distribution of the subsidised maize flour, which is supposed to go on sale on Wednesday at Sh130 for a 5-kilo bag.

Millers across the country said they had little information about how the flour was to be distributed. They said their contract with the Government entailed milling the new brand and handing it over to the cereals board.

Supermarkets too were not sure whether they would be asked to sell the flour.

Nakumatt operations director Thiagararajan Ramamurthy said his chain had not yet received any guidelines on the distribution of the flour.

“This far we have not received any of the flour to distribute. However, my concern is how I could have two prices for two similar commodities. How can I tell who should buy at what price?” he asked.

Agriculture minister William Ruto launched the retail sale of the flour during a brief ceremony at the National Cereals and Produce Board headquarters in Nairobi.

However, millers and other players in the industry said it was still not clear how the flour was to be distributed.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga had last week said that the flour would be sold in low-income areas, but that consumers from other areas were also free to buy it. Mr Ruto said the maize flour would be distributed by the cereals board.

Under the plan, the board will distribute maize to millers for milling and later collect it for distribution to retailers.

With the other brands of flour, millers buy maize from the board, mill and package it and sell the flour to wholesalers, who then sell to retailers.

On Tuesday, Mr Munir Thabit, a finance officer at Mombasa Maize Millers, said that his company had not yet received the maize for the new brand.

In Mombasa, no miller had received the maize and only six in Nairobi had been supplied albeit in small quantities.

Unga Limited managing director Nick Hutchinson said his firm had received “a few bags” on Tuesday afternoon.

“Deliveries to millers started streaming in on Sunday and were going on Tuesday. Our contract ends at milling and NCPB takes over the distribution,” he said.

Mr Ramamurthy said his chain adds a 10 per cent margin on the price it buys goods from suppliers. If the chain buys a kilo of flour for Sh65, it resells it for Sh72.

“I am getting supply at between Sh80 and Sh90 and I sell at between Sh89 and Sh90. But we are for reduced prices since maize flour is one of the products that are core to our customers,” he said.

But a manager at Woolmatt Supermarkets, Mr Rophence Kadenyere, said only the customers would decide on the product they want.

“It is just like we have Hostess flour, which is a little more expensive than the others but there are buyers. It depends on one’s taste and buying capability,” he said.