ZCC welcomes sugar imports

ZCC welcomes sugar imports
By Joan Chirwa and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Friday June 06, 2008 [04:00]

ALLOWING imports of sugar in a convenient manner will assist in addressing interests of consumers on the local market, Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) acting executive director Thula Kaira has said. And Shoprite and Spar have received consignments of sugar with a two kilogramme being sold at an average of K9,000.
Kaira in an interview said the government could find a way of allowing imports of sugar while protecting its own industry.

“In our view, allowing imports of sugar in a controllable way could address the interests of consumers,” Kaira said. “Again, allowing imports should not have adverse effects on the local market. We need to come up with long-term solutions to certain situations, not only when there is a crisis. In the current situation where there is a shortage of sugar, it was important for Zambia Sugar, as a monopoly supplier to notify consumers so that government can find ways of mitigating the deficit.”

Kaira further said the commission had received numerous complaints from industrial users of sugar on inadequate supply of the commodity.

“In the circumstances, it would appear plausible that imports should be encouraged as there is no stringent requirement that industrial sugar be fortified with Vitamin A at the point of entry,” Kaira said. “On the other hand, it would be critical for Zambia Sugar not to lose its domestic market for commercial sugar. To ascertain this, there would be need for assurances from Zambia Sugar that they would favourably satisfy local demand.”

And by Wednesday afternoon, Shoprite and Spar had stocked both brown and white sugar on their shelves.

Workers at Shoprite confirmed that one-kilogramme packets of sugar were received on Tuesday night while the two kilogramme packets were stocked on Wednesday. And a check at Spar Arcades revealed that the chain store had enough stocks of sugar, although demand for the product was not much.

“We are not having many people coming to buy sugar because they don’t know we have it in stock,” said one of the shop attendants at Spar Arcades.

Zambia Sugar on Monday announced that it would soon flood the market with its products so that sugar prices could get back to their original trading levels of K8,500 per two kilogramme packet. The shortage of sugar on the local market resulted in an inflation of prices to an average of K20,000 per two kilogramme packet.