Malawi flour goes bad in South Sudan

(nyasatimes.com)

Malawi is said to have sent flour exports to South Sudan in a trade deal, prompting the Industry, Trade and Tourism to propose a review of the export laws to ensure that the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) is involved in all certification processes of exports.

This follows concerns that MBS was left out in exportation of maize flour which had gone bad upon arrival in South Sudan.

Instead, the Export Development Fund-EDF was engaged for the task.

The committee’s chairperson Simplex Chithyola Banda wants the MBS to have power and mandate to certify all products for exports to avoid embarrassment where Malawian products are rejected across the borders.

Meanwhile, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Industry Trade and Tourism on Thursday to discuss the role of the ministry in the U$295 million export deal between Malawi and South Sudan.

A report shows that Malawi has failed to fulfill the deal in its first year due to low quantity and poor quality of food items.

Malawi is expected to export food items worth U$295 million to South Sudan annually for five years but has only managed to export items worth U$1.4 million.

Meanwhile, officials from the ministry say among others, they will establish mega farms to increase production of the food items in the country to meet the demand.

On 10 June 2021, Malawi signed an MOU on Trade and Economic cooperation with South Sudan where Malawi was expected to be supplying maize, maize flour, sugar, rice to South Sudan and Malawi was expected to import petroleum and bitumen from South Sudan.