Media Updates
MINAGRI Maize stored over five years fetches higher price at EAX
Early this month, East Africa Exchange (EAX) successfully traded 578 MTs of MINAGRI maize, in a single session. MINAGRI partnered with EAX to sell off the maize through the exchange platform following a lapse in the acceptable storage time frame of the grain. The trading session attracted about seven commodity buyers who offered bid prices against the sole seller, MINAGRI’s, advised reserve price of Rwf 100 per kg. The highly competitive auction yielded higher bids from the buyers than expected and the grain sold to the highest bidder at Rwf 147per Kg, almost 50% higher than the reserve price.
"We are very excited about the success of this trade as it demonstrates the value addition of a Commodity Exchange, which provides opportunities for buyers and sellers to interact, and to discover real prices based on their perception of value. This trade was carried out in a transparent and fair manner, which is what EAX stands for, Dr Kadri Alfah said.
EAX links smallholder farmers and other members to commodity markets to ensure that they get good prices for their commodities based on price discovery. ‘’EAX has the ability to bring together trusting market participants to trade and give sellers what they deserve in the form of higher prices’’. In an unstructured market, it would be difficult to trade these grains because you will have several buyers who are not necessarily interested in purchasing the grains but are there to distract the actual buyers’’ Dr Kadri Said. We hope to trade more grains on behalf of MINAGRI, he added.