Pointe-Noire Talks Address a Sector Under Pressure
The meeting took place in Pointe-Noire on June 15, 2026, and brought together two sides that have been pulling in different directions over flour pricing in the Republic of Congo. On one side sat Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, minister of commerce. On the other, the Federation of Millers of Congo, represented by a delegation led by Dieudonné Ndinga Moukala of the Union Patronale du Congo. Their stated goal was to align their positions on price regulation and chart a path forward for the sector.
The breadth of the agenda reflected the depth of the problem. The discussions covered the establishment of a minimum flour price, overdue state subsidies and the proposed requirement that bread flour contain at least ten percent cassava flour.
The Price Floor Question and Its Limits
Minister Mikolo was candid about the limits of her own authority on the central question of price floors. “The commerce ministry alone cannot set the floor price,” she acknowledged during the meeting, signaling that any formal decision on pricing would require a broader government intervention beyond her portfolio alone. That candor, rather than undercutting the talks, appeared to build confidence among millers that the government was approaching the issue with an honest assessment of what was possible.
The cassava flour integration requirement — ten percent in bread flour — represents an attempt to reduce import dependency while simultaneously finding a market for domestically produced cassava, a staple crop in Congo-Brazzaville.
A Sector Straining Under Its Own Weight
The scale of the milling industry in Congo-Brazzaville points to the stakes involved. Annual flour production reaches approximately 600,000 tonnes, while domestic consumption stands at around 150,000 tonnes. That gap between output and internal demand means Congolese millers are producing well beyond what the local market can absorb.
Minister Mikolo nonetheless struck an upbeat note on quality, saying that locally produced flour exceeds the quality of competing products sold elsewhere in the sub-region. That argument — that Congo can compete on quality, not just volume — forms part of the government’s longer-term reasoning for backing the sector with regulatory intervention rather than letting price competition erode it.
Millers Welcome the Government’s Engagement
The millers’ delegation received the government’s signals of support with evident appreciation. Ndinga Moukala and his colleagues acknowledged the difficulties associated with imports, processing and distribution that have complicated the industry’s operations, and noted that formal government recognition of those challenges marked a shift in tone.
The meeting stopped short of producing binding commitments on the subsidy arrears owed to the sector, a point that remains unresolved and that millers regard as pressing. Clarity on the timing and modalities of those payments will be essential if the goodwill generated in Pointe-Noire is to translate into durable cooperation.
The Road to a Regulatory Framework
What emerged from the June 15 gathering was less a policy agreement than a foundation for further negotiation. The key signals — government acknowledgement of unpaid subsidies, openness to a price floor mechanism and interest in the cassava integration requirement — give the Federation of Millers tangible items to bring back to their members.
For Congo-Brazzaville’s consumers, the outcome of these discussions will matter directly. Bread is a basic commodity in the country’s urban diet, and any sustained disruption to flour pricing or supply affects household purchasing power. The government’s engagement in Pointe-Noire, whatever its immediate limits, reflects an awareness that food price stability is a political as much as an economic concern.