Parliament starts sugar price inquiry
Parliament yesterday started a public inquiry into sugar prices offered by Malawi Stock Exchange-listed Illovo Sugar (Malawi) plc amid calls to revise the country’s laws to allow the imports of sugar.
The Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism engaged representatives from consumer rights groups and the manufacturing sector as part of the inquiry on the production and pricing of sugar at Parliament Building in Lilongwe.
In his presentation at titled ‘Sugar prices must fall’, Centre for Democracy and Development Initiatives (Cdedi) executive director Sylvester Namiwa accused Illovo Sugar of setting unfair prices to post “obscene profits”.
He claimed that an independent investigation by Cdedi confirmed that Illovo Sugar was charging higher prices on the local market.
In the presentation, Namiwa said the price of Illovo Sugar in Zambia is at $1.09 (about K1 100.50) per kilogramme while in Mozambique it is $0.68 (about K700) and in Tanzania it is $1.15 (about K1 200). On the other hand, in Malawi the same quantity is fetching about K1 500.
He said: “This is a clear case of transfer pricing. In effect, the local consumer is subsidising the price for some unknown user in another country.”
During the second session, Industrial Sugar Users Association submitted that the price of locally-manufactured industrial sugar was higher than the landed cost of the same product in regional peers.
In his presentation, Coca-Cola Africa managing director Seutloadi Thaanyane said the price of industrial sugar has gone up four times in the past 12 months, totalling 68 percent.
In a separate interview, Castel Malawi human resources and corporate director Gloria Zimba, another representative of the association, urged the government to revise the laws and regulations to reduce the price of industrial sugar.
Illovo Sugar is scheduled to appear before the committee today.
