Mozambican businesspeople today called for the suspension of the decree centralising rice and wheat imports under the Mozambique Grain Institute (ICM), arguing that it lacks a legal basis and runs counter to international commitments made by the country.
“It is a thorny issue, with other ‘nuances’ behind it, and someone has to resolve the problem once and for all: the Government,” said the president of the Fiscal Policy, Customs and International Trade Department of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), Kekobad Patel, on the sidelines of a meeting between businesspeople and Finance Minister Carla Loveira in Maputo.
According to Patel, the decree in force since December 2025, which assigns the management of rice and wheat imports to the ICM, should be suspended.
“We need to start suspending this immediately. That is the first measure I think should be taken. This way of operating cannot continue,” he argued.
According to Kekobad Patel, the centralisation mechanism does not have a sufficient legal basis.
“This runs counter to all the international agreements to which Mozambique is a party,” he maintained.
The statements come after the Mozambique Grain Institute suspended the grain import activities of the companies África Indústrias, Pembe Mozambique and Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM), alleging non-compliance with the regulations governing rice and wheat imports.
Subsequently, the ICM lifted the suspension imposed on África Indústria and Pembe Mozambique, while maintaining the dispute with Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM).
The Mozambique Grain Institute has justified the centralisation of imports on the grounds of the need to combat alleged over-invoicing practices which, according to its estimates, cause annual losses to the State of around US$100 million.
“At this point, I need to look more deeply into some of these aspects to find out where all this money being charged is going. So, we are going to look into this matter because it is a thorny issue,” said Kekobad Patel.
The business leader also called for an in-depth analysis of the process, recalling previous situations that had affected business activity, including the case of pigeon pea exports to India.
“Where millions of dollars are involved, be careful, we do not want a repeat of the same problem. Therefore, we need to take some time to analyse the issue,” he argued.
According to the ICM, rice and wheat imports must comply with the mechanism established by the ministerial instruments currently in force regulating the sector.
The suspension of the operations of the three companies was announced last week and resulted, according to the institute, in the seizure of 34,300 tonnes of grain.
The seized products included 3,300 tonnes of wheat belonging to Companhia Industrial da Matola.
CIM contested the decision, describing it as “legally inadmissible”, arguing that it had not been notified in advance of any infringement proceedings nor given the opportunity to exercise its right to a defence.
The company also maintained that the goods had complied with all the required customs procedures and that unloading had been authorised by the competent authorities.
According to CIM, the dispute concerns the mechanism for centralising grain imports, the legality of which is being challenged before the administrative courts.
The mechanism came into force for rice imports in February and for wheat imports in May this year, with the stated aim of strengthening control over imports and the use of foreign currency in the country.
