Source OEAZ/EA

• Zimbabwe demands a total of 18.5 metric tonnes of Edible oils and Soya bean Meal per month. Edible oils are a food substance that is manufactured for human consumption wholly or in part from a fat other than that of milk. Soya Bean Meal is used primarily for poultry feed.
• According to Oil Expressers Association of Zimbabwe (OEAZ)  a cooking oil industry lobby group which is made up of seven members that supply at least 95% of the edible oils consumed in Zimbabwe, its members require at least US$5m per week (US$20m per month) to import soya beans, crude edible oils and other raw materials to satisfy the requirements for  national oil demand and related products adequately.
• The organization says for the 28 weeks ended 31 July 2017, OEAZ members have received US$61m which is US$2.2m per week (US$8.8m per month) a 66% deficit on the national demand.
• Between Augusts and September, the RBZ has reduced its allocation to per week to $1.5 million which increases the national shortfall and supply bottlenecks in the market.

• As a stop-gap measure to avert the immediate crisis the association urges RBZ to increase the amount allocated as foreign currency or the extension of RBZ supported Letters of Credit to OEAZ members, which will allow them to import adequate raw materials and other inputs.
• As a sustainable solution the association believes the country should aim to increase soya bean production from the current 30,000mt to at least 150,000mt per annum in the next 3- 5 years and further buttress this through value chain reconstruction measures.
• In spite of the prevailing challenges, the group does not anticipate any acute shortages of audible oils form human consumption in the market given a historical interpolation. The group, however, notes that inputs and raw materials costs have escalated dramatically over the last few months and shelf prices have responded.

*Meanwhile in a non-exhaustive telephone chat late on Monday, the Central Bank governor Mangudya told Equity Axis that a $20 million fuel order has been authorized and processed with deliveries expected from late Wednesday.

There is, however, no sign that the government mooting a sustainable solution to the crisis which is evidently non-monetary. We foresee the continued improvisation of stop-gap monetary measures such as stabilization facilities with little inclination to addressing of attendant fiscus imbalances. The stakes are even high as we move towards 2018. The central government will therefore likely highly expose the central bank through quasi-fiscal activities to provide short-term economic stability.