EDITORIAL: Tighten the screws on importation of sugar

The problems bedeviling the sugar industry have resurfaced – this time with the government deciding to withdraw import permits from local producers.

Concerns that local producers were focusing more on importing sugar than increasing their production to fill the 120,000-tonne gap between demand and supply are reason enough for the government’s decision.

The sticking point, though, is: to what extent will the import permits withdrawal surmount the crisis? Time will tell.

In any case, the back-and-forth situation that Tanzania finds itself in as it battles to address the sugar crisis can, arguably, be blamed partly on weak importation regulations which holders unfairly exploit. And, going forward, this is what needs to be addressed for starters.

In the past, import permits were granted to non-producers of sugar. But this ended up putting the domestic producers out of business due to cheaper imports that put paid to local production.

Some stakeholders welcomed the decision to allow sugar producers to fill the gap themselves by importing the commodity.

But then, again, this created laxity among local producers who were then able to make quick profits through importing sugar, rather than bother with costly, cumbersome production processes. Apparently, all this put the government in some kind of a ‘catch-22’ situation. The reality on the ground is that seeking to fill the sugar shortage gap in the short-term through increasing local production might be unachievable – and, therefore, importing sugar is inescapable!

This is why there is a need to go back to the drawing boards and plug the loopholes in the importation of the much-needed commodity. The solution lies in tightening the screws on all those who get import permits to prevent abuses that jeopardise domestic production through unfair competition.

Of course, in the long term, the government must find ways of encouraging local producers to do more to fill the huge gap in the market.