Highlights
Although most countries in the region are seeing their national average maize price stabilize or decrease in line with seasonal trends, prices are generally trending higher compared to last year.
Tight regional maize supply and higher prices may pose challenges in coming months for countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique that are likely to need more maize imports in the 2019/20 consumption year. In the case of Zimbabwe, where local trading in foreign currencies was discontinued effective 24 June, currency instability and soaring inflation (headline 98 percent, food inflation 126 percent) present additional challenges. Recent regulations to control the sale of maize also reflect tightening of maize supply conditions in the country.
In Zambia, a key maize producing country in the region, 89 percent of monitored markets were seeing maize price spikes and classified in either the “Stress,” “Alert,” or “Crisis” phase by ALPS.