JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (ADV) – Tanzania recently announced that it is now issuing permits to traders to import sugar from Uganda as the country is hit by a 290,000-tonne shortage.
Tanzania produces about 300,000 tonnes of raw sugar annually, leaving a high demand gap, and last year the country stopped issuing new permits for importation of sugar to protect local producers and traders.
“The country is currently experiencing a shortage and needs to fill the gap,” said Tanzania’s Minister of Agriculture Japhet Hasunga.
With a population of more than 50 million, the country’s annual sugar consumption is estimated at 590,000 tonnes, of which 135,000 tonnes are for industrial consumption and 455,000 for domestic use.
According to Mr Hasunga, sugar production in Tanzania rose to 303,431.14 tonnes in the financial year 2017/2018, from 293,075 tonnes in financial year 2015/2016.
Sugar in Tanzania comes mainly from four companies: Kilombero Sugar Company, majority owned by South Africa’s Illovo Sugar, Mtibwa, Kagera, and TPC, a unit of Mauritius sugar producer Alteo.
However, media reports suggest that sugar trade in the region has been dogged by controversy. When Tanzania blocked sugar imports from Uganda last year, it was on the claims that the sugar was actually from Kenya. The restrictions were informed by reports that Kenyan sugar had entered the Ugandan market, where it was repackaged then exported to the regional market.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli recently told media that the ban on sugar imports from Uganda was because some government officials had been abusing their powers and issuing orders to import sugar for their own interests.
More sugarcane plantations and factories are planned across the country to meet the growing demand.
The National Social Security Fund and the PPF Pension Fund, the two leading pension schemes in Tanzania, are growing sugar cane at Mkulazi Sugar Farm in Morogoro region, aiming to produce 30,000 tonnes of sugar per year.
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