Mauritius Braces for Shortage of Basic Foodstuffs in the Near Future

Bakery owners in Mauritius are apprehensive that there may be a lack of flour, one of the basic staple foods of the country, in the coming months following the decision of the Chinese government not to sell flour to Mauritius.

Ranjitsingh Soomaroah, the Director of the State Trading Corporation (STC), the governmental body which imports flour, explained to journalists on Saturday at his office in Port Louis the capital that the STC has already started negotiations with Madagascar to explore the possibility of buying some 50, 000 tons of flour from that country. He avers that Malagasy flour is more competitive in terms of quality and price, but there are still some grey areas which have to be clarified.

Replying to a question, Soomaroah said that there is only a 4-month supply of flour remaining in government silos and he is not even sure if a deal will be clinched as the Malagasy authorities have informed him that they will have to make an inventory of all their stocks before giving a definite answer.

He added that cyclone Ivan, which hit Madagascar on the 17th February, has destroyed many wheat granaries on the west coast of that country. Otherwise, he said the STC will invite international tenders for the supply of the flour.

Soomaroah explained that he is also very much concerned about the import of rice this year. The cheapest rice “the Ration Rice” which the state subsidizes for poor people is almost unavailable on the world market and that the government will be at pains to supply this type of rice to everybody this year, he observed.

Concerning Basmati rice, which well-to-do families usually buy, Soomaroah indicated that due to a very bad harvest this year, both India and Pakistan have taken the decision to levy an export tax on this commodity. Vietnam, he added, has done the same since Thursday last.

He believes that there may be an increase of about 40% in the price of Basmati, if ever those countries can have enough rice to export. The only solution, he averred would be to import rice from the US, but at an exorbitant price.

Source African Press Agency

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