Government hailed for banning sugar imports

President John Magufuli

 The Agricultural Council of Tanzania (ACT) has hailed the government decision to ban sugar imports and recommended favorable conditions for domestic producers to boost production.

 

According to a press statement issued in Dar es Salaam yesterday by ACT, on top of the ban the government should encourage investors with large sugarcane plantations to expand them and provide technical support to out-growers to increase production.   

 

“If we are really determined to produce sufficient sugar to meet the local demand these actions should be immediately implemented although there are some challenges which may arise in the course of implementation,” the statement said.

 

According to ACT, Tanzania has five main factories which produce sugar at the capacity of 300,000 tonnes annually which is not sufficient to meet the domestic and industrial demand.

 

“It is obvious that the amount of sugar produced in the country is not enough to meet the demand thus in order to avoid the costs associated with importation of sugar especially from Brazil, India, Thailand and Indonesia, the recommended actions should be implemented immediately,” the statement said.

 

The council, however, noted that although there will be some challenges in convincing investors to expand investment in sugarcane plantations; it is possible for plantations to be increased in area. 

It also said that it is possible to increase sugar production by using out-growers, although most of them lack enough expertise and capital to purchase modern equipment.

 

 Following insufficient sugar production in the country, the government decided to provide permits to traders to import the product to cover the deficit. 

 

However, unscrupulous traders have been abusing the permits by importing more sugar than necessary thus affecting the market of domestic sugar because the imported one is subsidized and sold at lower prices.

 

Last week President John Magufuli banned sugar imports to protect the local sugar industry, which for many years has been hard hit by the continued supply of cheap and illegal sugar from abroad.

 

The president said the country could not achieve its envisaged industrialisation targets if local factories were not protected from and empowered against such cheap imports.

 

“We have domestic factories that buy sugarcane from smallholder farmers. These factories produce sugar, provide employment and are a source of government revenue. But although we have enough of our own stock, there are people in government who still arbitrarily issue permits to import sugar,” he said in Dar es Salaam.

 

“These people are undermining this government’s efforts, I am now making it clear that no more sugar import permits will be issued unless under special circumstances,” the president added.

 

He said some of the sugar being imported into the country had expired and was unfit for human consumption.

 

While Tanzania currently consumes around 590,000 tonnes of sugar annually, the four local factories - Kagera Sugar, Kilombero, Mtibwa and Tanganyika Plantation Company (TPC) -- produce around 291,000 tonnes, with the deficit being covered by imports.