Stor by Stanley James, Business Editor
FARMERS are reaping the benefits of a partially liberalised agriculture commodities market after maize prices averaged US$315 per tonne on the Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange(ZMX).
Results for the weekly commodities auction held Wednesday show that farmers and buyers are responding positively to the price discovery mechanism on the exchange.
Despite a marginal drop in maize volumes traded, the average price has however set the tone for viable returns to farmers.
“Maize volumes traded however dropped from 327 metric tonnes last week to 185 tonnes despite there being more than 2 200 metric tonnes which were offered for US$ 340 per tonne, the average price demanded by the farmers averaged US$311 per tonne, is expected that the difference between the offer and bid prices will merge soon,” said ZMX General Manager, Mr Garikayi Munema.
Zimbabwe’s cooking oil value chains are also expected to benefit after soya beans started trading on the market.
“Following further liberalisation of commodities trading after gazetting of Statutory Instruments 120 and 130 of 2023, ZMX has added more commodities onto the platform and in yesterday’s auction a total of 167 metric tonnes of soya beans were traded at an average price of US$480 per tonne,” said Mr Munema.
Globally, the auction system is considered a viable trading platform for agricultural produce as it benefits market forces freely determined by buyers and sellers.
