Grant Traders Association of Malawi (GTAM) has acknowledged there is a food shortage in the country, but the situation is not as bad as it is portrayed, only that government does not act on traders who buy maize from farmers then hoard it.

The input above follows after Admarc delayed to open its doors to buy maize last year, coupled with Cyclone Idai that destroyed maize across the country. The two factors resulted into scarcity of maize, but GTAM president, Grace Mijiga Mhango, suspects that maize was available, but traders bought all the maize from farmers, and hoarded it for longer than necessary, making it seem like there was no maize in the country, therefore increasing demand for the commodity at higher prices. Mhango emphasized that government has failed by failing to enforce provisions of the Special Crops Act.

In January, the Femine and Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet) Food Security Update has showed that higher maize prices are causing informal maize exports to surge. According to the report, Malawi exported about 6 200 metric tonnes (MT) of maize between last August and November 2019 alone. Weighing the informal exports with informal imports, the latter registered 907MT of maize in November, mainly from Mozambique.