By Reporter
Local sugar cane millers and sector experts have expressed concern over the lack of stringent policies that have led to unfair market competition.
They want the Government to enforce stringent policies to regulate sugar importation into the country.
They spoke before the National Assembly Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives during the first day of inspection visits to sugar companies in the Western region.
The delegation, led by the Committee Chairperson, Hon. Benard Shinali (Ikolomani), was told that when sugar was imported without proper planning on how to release it into the market, the locally produced sugar ends up with no market.
Butali Sugar MD, Mr Sanjay Patel, told the Committee that imported sugar only benefits a few individuals and the local farmer shoulders the burden of higher cane production costs.
“What we produce locally cannot fully satisfy the need; however, we want good importation structures to be put in place for us to compete fairly. We should be on board in the decision-making table to give our input on when the sugar should be imported, how much should be imported and also advise on when it should be released into the market,” the MD said.
According to the MD, the imported sugar should not all be released at once into the market but should be released in batches in order to protect the local millers and give them a fair playing field.
While making recommendations to the Committee, Butali Sugarcane Millers management also wants restrictions on the repackaging of sugar. They argued that only the millers should be allowed to repack it into smaller quantities to assure consumers of sugar hygiene.
Meanwhile, while at Mumias Sugar Mills, the Committee was told that the recent importation of 27,000 metric tonnes of raw sugar by the Mombasa Sugar Refinery Ltd did not impact them in any way since the imported sugar was for industrial purposes.
Mr Stephen Kihumba, who is the operations manager at Mumias Sugar, told the Committee that importation of sugar helps regulate and balance prices; however, they also called for the streamlining of the importation sector.
Addressing the media after the visits, Hon. Shinali stated that the inspection was necessitated by the imported raw sugar and to check how it had affected the local millers and farmers.
The Committee also inspected the progress of the Constituency Industrial Development Centre (CIDC) at Ikolomani Constituency. They heard that it is yet to be operationalised due to a lack of electricity.
