?We are satisfied with the recent decision to allocate 50% of the supply of flour to Les Moulins de La Concorde,? revealed Ibrahim Ahmod, secretary general of the Association of Bakers. Local bakers have no prejudice against Chinese flour but they fear that this type of flour might not be suited to the type of bread produced locally. They are waiting for the flour to arrive in Mauritius to make some tests and give their feeling.

?We asked the ministry of Trade and Industry for 100 kilos of each type of flour ? type A for the manufacturing of bread and Type B, a more refined one intended for pastry ? so that we can check whether they correspond to the local type of bread as soon as it arrives in Mauritius,? explained the bakers? representative. ?We will do baking tests meaning that we are going to prepare the dough to see if it is in accordance with the bread we have here or if it will come out as faratas,? he added half-jokingly.

Warehouses intended for other foodstuffs

The association made it clear that they could well have something positive out of the tests but bakers are afraid to have the same bad surprises as they had with the Australian company, Manildra. ?There was not only a problem with the type of flour from this firm because it could not be adapted to the Mauritian type of bread but also the way it was stocked caused additional problems at the last minute,? recalls Ibrahim Ahmod.

The storage was one of the main problems raised when the government decided to import flour from China through the State Trading Corporation (STC). Specialists in the sector found that preservation conditions would be better in a flourmill rather than in bags. However, it appears that the STC does not have proper warehouses for flour and could store it in warehouses intended for other foodstuffs. If the Chinese flour was not to be stocked in proper conditions, it could have bad consequences on its long-term preservation ?like the Manildra one?.

The debate over the quality of the Chinese flour started after the government decided that the prices quoted by LMLC, which had already won the bid for the local supply, were too high. This is when they contacted the Chinese government that directed them towards Zhengzhou Jinyuan Flour Industry. The government then cancelled the bid already allocated to LMLC without giving any guarantee on the new type of flour chosen.

At that time, LMLC pointed at the difficulty of guaranteeing good quality of flour in such cases. Since there was no bid to allocate the contract, the question raised was whether the flour had undergone tests or not.

The website of the French embassy also contains information about Chinese flour that could question its quality again. ?The increase in the price of flour is a cause of worry. The Mongolians can meet only 30% of their needs and the low quality of the Chinese flour, which floods the market, harms the health of Mongolians. This Chinese flour, which is cheap and of bad quality, is not even consumed by Chinese themselves,? states the press review on the website.

Past episodes sparked off a crisis

As shown in the case of Amul milk or that of iron bars, the STC is not always in a position to check that the products obtained at a cheaper price is of similar quality. And these past episodes may well have sparked off a crisis. A delegation composed of representatives of the ministry of Trade and Industry as well as the State Trading Corporation and Nissar Ramtoolah from the Jummah Mosque flew to China to check the quality of flour.

The delegation came back last Monday but no details have leaked out so far. So much so that the government has finally decided to re-allocate 50% of the country?s need in flour to LMLC ? which had been excluded in previous negotiations. Although the private company is not fully satisfied with the result of negotiations, its general manager, Gérard Boullé, has however acknowledged that this decision ?has helped us get out of a crisis?.