Miller Magazine Issue: 117 September 2019

people in the subsectors of meat, fish, fruit, dairy products, grain mill products, and bev- erages. As a major producer and exporter of finished processed food products in Africa, South Africa’s appetite for ingredients drives demand for a wide range of products. MILLING INDUSTRY The grain milling sector plays a vital role with regard to food security through its influence on the price of the country’s staple foods, maize meal and bread. Wheat flour, mainly used in the baking of bread, is regarded as the sec- ond most important food source in South Af- rica and therefore plays an important role to ensure sustainable food security. This view is supported by the fact that bread, and espe- cially brown bread, is seen as an essential part of the National School Nutrition Programme to feed the nation. Bread is fast becoming a staple food, particularly in informal settlements where people do not have access to electrici- ty and ovens. As a result, wheat consumption has increased relative to maize. South Africa is importing unprocessed wheat, processing it, and then exporting the wheat flour mainly to African countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozam- bique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The milling industry in South Africa is con- centrated with four large companies domi- nating the market. These large millers have a competitive advantage in terms of economies of scale, finance, skills and ability to cope with price volatility, which enable them to import, process and export larger quantities of wheat than smaller millers. According to ‘Manufac- ture of Flour and Grain Mill Products’ report prepared by Who Owns Whom, an independ- ent research organisation, the leading four players together mill approximately 75% of the maize meal produced in the country and dominate the wheat milling market with 97% market share. About half of the flour used by the bread industry is milled from imported wheat, with wheat sourced mainly from Rus- sia, Ukraine, Argentina, US and Germany. SOURCES: www.export.gov www.fas.usda.gov www.grainsa.co.za www.grainmilling.org.za