By HELEN ZULU –

SUPERIOR Milling Company Limited has invested K14 million in the installation of a new maize mill to increase its production capacity.
The milling company has reduced prices of mealie-meal by K2.
Company managing director Peter Cottan said the new maize mill, which was expected to increase production capacity would be commissioned in January 2015.
Speaking during the official opening of a new depot in Kafue district, Mr Cottan said  the company had reduced the mealie meal prices by K2 to K64.99 per 25 kilogramme (kg) bag of breakfast and K39.99 per 25 kg bag of roller meal.
Mr Cottan said the company had started buying maize from small-scale farmers around the country which had necessitated the reduction in the mealie-meal prices.
“We are a major buyer of the maize and I can tell you that we have started buying maize from the small-scale farmers, directly from the source. This has enabled us to reduce the price of mealie meal by K2 to K64.99 per 25 kilogramme of breakfast meal and K39.99 per 25 kg of roller meal,” Mr Cottan said.
Superior Milling Company plans to buy 80,000 tonnes of maize from local farmers this marketing season to meet its annual requirements.
He said the company was buying the maize to ensure that it had enough for the new maize mill.
He said that the company was going to open 10 depots in the country in the next three months.
Kafue District administrative officer Ngoni Moyo said the government was pleased to learn that Superior Milling Company had taken the lead to reduce mealie-meal prices now that it was consuming this season’s maize.
“We understand that you have an aggressive expansion programme where you are installing a new maize mill to increase capacity.
“We would like to call upon other businesses to take advantage of this enabling environment that the government has created and invest in Kafue,” Mr Moyo said.