The UN World Food Programme (WFP) bought 6,000 tonnes of maize for Kenya in March, a WFP buyer said on Wednesday, adding the agency might still buy from Zambia despite its export ban. "We bought 6,000 tonnes of South African maize for Mombasa," the buyer said. This followed a 10,000-tonne shipment of white maize to Angola in February, he said.
In recent years, the WFP has bought much of its food aid from Zambia, which has now declared an export ban over drought fears, but he said this did not necessarily mean WFP would not buy its maize for export. "We have got indications that they (Zambia) will still grant us export permits if needed," the buyer said. "It may be on a case by case basis."
It was still too early to say how badly recent poor rainfall would impact on Zambia's crop, he said. On Tuesday, Zambia's agriculture minister said the country, which had recovered from shortages in 2002 to produce a surplus since, would have a maize shortfall of 300,000 tonnes.
But the WFP would continue to look to buy in Zambia for delivery to nearby Zimbabwe, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.
Low South African maize prices, which have slumped from over 1,000 rand a tonne in November to under 600 rand now, made its produce more attractive but did not mean WFP would necessarily buy the bulk of its aid there, the buyer said.
He would not disclose the price for the Kenya cargo, he said, but it was close to the current SAFEX futures price together with the cost of transport. Front month April white maize closed at 540 rand a tonne on Tuesday.