Government Denies Bulawayo Millers Have Stopped Over Maize
ZIMBABWE · DOING BUSINESS
Key Facts
—The claim: Blue Ribbon Industries and 23 other medium and small millers have closed milling operations in Bulawayo, according to a circular from Major (Rtd) David Moyo, chairman of the Grain Millers Association southern region.
—The denial: The Ministry of Agriculture says the claim is false. It says it checked directly with Blue Ribbon and the named millers, and that none has shut down.
—The stated cause: Moyo says local maize supply has significantly declined, some remaining grain is insect-infested, and an upfront levy of US$40.00 a tonne on imported maize, applied since April 2026, blocks the credit terms millers relied on.
—The government’s numbers: Maize output rose from 2.29 million tonnes in 2025 to 2.69 million tonnes in 2026, it says, with Grain Marketing Board stocks of 252,177 tonnes on 19 August.
—The accusation: The ministry says “elitist interests” are exploiting Blue Ribbon’s name to manufacture a national grain crisis and push for more imports.
—Why the claim travels: Blue Ribbon’s Bulawayo plant genuinely stopped in September 2025 after running out of grain. The government says this time is different.
—What is unresolved: Neither side has published plant-level evidence. There is no independent verification of the mills’ status either way.
Zimbabwe’s government has denied a claim by the southern millers’ association that Blue Ribbon Industries and 23 other millers have stopped grinding maize in Bulawayo, and accuses import interests of manufacturing a crisis. The dispute turns on a maize import levy the millers say they cannot afford.
What the millers’ circular says
The document comes from Major (Rtd) David Moyo, chairman of the southern region of the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, which covers Bulawayo and the two Matabeleland provinces. It was reported by New Zimbabwe on 27 August.
It states that Blue Ribbon Industries and 23 other medium and small millers have closed their milling operations in Bulawayo. Moyo gives two reasons.
The first is that local maize supply has significantly declined, and that some of the grain still on offer is insect-infested. The second is regulatory.
“We can’t find the much-taunted bumper maize harvest,” the circular says. It accuses Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka of not prioritising the region.
The government says it is false
A day later, the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development issued a flat denial. It said it had obtained information directly from Blue Ribbon and the other millers named.
“Blue Ribbon and the 23 named millers have not shut down their milling operations,” the ministry said. “Zimbabwe has produced more maize and has grain.”
It pointed to official figures showing maize output rising from 2.29 million tonnes in 2025 to 2.69 million tonnes in 2026, a 17.1 percent increase. It projects a strategic grain surplus of between 550,945 and 964,945 tonnes, and says Grain Marketing Board stocks stood at 252,177 tonnes on 19 August.
The ministry conceded that localised supply and grain-quality problems exist, including insect infestation in portions of stocks. But it said those should not be elevated into claims of a national shortage.
“Government will not permit isolated operational challenges to be weaponised to create a false national grain crisis,” it said, accusing “elitist interests” of using Blue Ribbon’s name to campaign for more grain imports.
The rule at the centre of the fight
The dispute runs through Statutory Instrument 87 of 2025. Since April 2026 its levy framework has required millers to pay US$40.00 upfront for every tonne of imported maize, which Moyo says kills the 30 to 60 day payment terms they previously used.
The same instrument obliges processors to source at least 40 percent of their raw material locally from April 2026, rising to 100 percent by 2028. Millers must pay in advance for imports while being pushed toward local grain they say they cannot find.
Working capital is the whole of the milling business. A miller who buys grain on terms and sells flour for cash can operate on a thin balance sheet, and one who must pay in advance often cannot.
The association has already fought the framework in court. Its urgent High Court challenge was struck off the urgent roll in June, leaving the levies in force.
Zimbabwe still needs imported maize. The US Department of Agriculture’s attaché in Pretoria estimates imports of about 600,000 tonnes in the 2026/27 marketing year, most of it from South Africa.
Two harvests, one set of silos
Both sides can be partly right. A national harvest can exist on paper while millers in Matabeleland, the drier half of the country, cannot buy grain at a workable price or quality.
Matabeleland has never been Zimbabwe’s grain basket. It depends on grain moving south from the maize-growing provinces, and on imports, so a payment rule bites harder in Bulawayo than in Harare.
The claim also travels because it has happened before. Blue Ribbon’s Bulawayo plant really did stop in September 2025 after its silos ran empty, during the previous round of this same dispute.
The government says the current situation is fundamentally different. The association has not yet answered the denial with plant-level evidence of its own.
What this means in practice
When mills stop, the effect on shoppers is not immediate. Stocks of maize meal in the trade cover a period first, and any shortage appears on shelves afterwards.
The signals to watch are the retail price of maize meal in Bulawayo, whether the government adjusts the upfront levy, and whether the Grain Marketing Board releases grain to southern millers. Any of those would say more than another statement about the harvest.
Maize meal is the staple, so its price is political as well as economic. Governments across the region treat it as a line they cannot let move far.
For now the verifiable position is narrow. An industry association says two dozen mills have stopped, the government says none has, and neither has shown its workings. Food monitors already expect access to decline in Zimbabwe’s deficit areas later this year as prices rise.
Frequently asked questions
Have two dozen Bulawayo millers really stopped?
The southern region of the Grain Millers Association says Blue Ribbon Industries and 23 other millers have closed. The Ministry of Agriculture says it checked with the companies and that none has shut down. Neither side has published plant-level evidence.
What is Statutory Instrument 87 of 2025?
It is Zimbabwe’s grain marketing rulebook. Since April 2026 it has imposed an upfront levy of US$40.00 a tonne on imported maize and requires processors to source at least 40 percent of raw material locally, rising to 100 percent by 2028.
Is there a national maize shortage?
The government says no: output rose to 2.69 million tonnes in 2026 and state stocks stood at 252,177 tonnes on 19 August. Millers in Matabeleland say they cannot find that grain, and food monitors expect access to worsen in deficit areas later this year.
Why does Blue Ribbon’s name matter?
Its Bulawayo plant genuinely stopped in September 2025 after running out of grain. The government says that history is now being exploited to campaign for more imports; the millers say the underlying shortage never went away.
Connected Coverage
Zimbabwe’s foreign currency position sits behind the import problem, as mining exports doubling while reserves cover 1.7 months shows, and its trade dependence is set out in South Africa selling Zimbabwe eight times what it buys back. More sits in Africa: The New Scramble and on our Southern Africa hub.
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