Buying sugar is now leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of Tanzanians as prices of sweeteners have hit a record high but a twin blow, the prices are set to rise even further shortly, if necessary, steps are not taken to remedy the situation.

The scarcity of sugar has brought tension to consumers in the country as the wholesale and retail price codes of the commodity have risen drastically as of November 2023, while traders presume that the sudden increase is exacerbated by low industrial production levels.

The retail price for a kg, is currently fetched at between $ 1.76 and $ 1.95 in various regions and in some regions, the prices have gone much higher which is contrary to the indicative price codes of between $ 1.09 and $ 1.25 as earlier announced by the government since July 2023.

Dar es Salaam city and its environs which has the highest population density in the country, account for many users.  In some regions, customers have to pay up to $ 2.34 to get a kg take-home.

A spot check by this network at some wholesale shops selling sugar within the commercial city in the suburban of Tabata, Gongo la Mboto, Mwananyamala, Makumbusho, Buguruni, and Manzese has established that the wholesale price of a sack of sugar weighing 25 kg is currently fetched at $ 39.1 from the earlier $ 25.0 during the period under review.

Local traders ought to increase the price at their own will to compensate for the profit loss likely to emerge out of this sudden increase of wholesale which has affected the sale for each sack by 4 percent.

The government is perplexed by the ongoing situation after sugar prices have jumped at the fastest rate over the past two months among all the key commodities that are tracked to measure inflation according to demographic trade figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Speaking over the matter when contacted for comments, the Minister for Agriculture Mr. Hussein Bashe has admitted that, the present scarcity was due to low production levels in local manufacturing industries. 

The situation has been exacerbated due to ongoing rains an aspect that has affected the entire system of harvesting sugarcane, with sugar content in the raw material dropping by 25 percent, thus affecting the production of the commodity.

However, the Minister further noted that the government has made bulk purchases of sugar tonnage from outside the country to subsidize the incurring shortages whereby about 100,000 tons of sugar consignment has been ordered as one way to curb the scarcity.

In Tanzania, there are six sugar manufacturing companies in total with the capacity of different production output in terms of metric tons, located in four main regions namely Morogoro, Kagera, Kilimanjaro, Coast, and Manyara respectively.

These are Tanganyika Planting Company Limited, Kilombero Sugar Company Limited, Kagera Sugar Limited, and Mtibwa Sugar Estates Limited which are the major ones. The other two that have a short span of production are Mkulazi Holding Company Limited and Bakhresa Sugar Limited respectively.

As of today, sugar remains one of the main imported items for Tanzania, and recent demographic reports by the National Consumer Index show that “Tanzania’s annual demand for domestic sugar was 470,000 metric tons, while the country’s six sugar processing factories have the capacity of producing 350,000 tons only”.

This means that, from the arithmetical calculations as a nation it has to allow the importation of this commodity to supplement the remaining 120,000 metric tons to suffice the entire country’s consumption demand.

Sugar has a variety of both domestic and industrial uses in local communities as it’s used to sweeten drinks such as tea and coffee, baking of popular foods such as bread, biscuits, cakes, and bake maandazis.

For industrial use, this is a common product for pharmaceuticals such as syrups as well as manufacturers of carbonated soft beverages such as juices, soda, and many others alike.

Whenever prices of the sweetener increase, consumers incur higher costs of not only buying the commodity at the shop but also other products for which sugar is used in their manufacture or preparation.  

Tanzania is still lagging in the cultivation of sugar to feed the available sugar industries with the needed industrial raw materials and that is why the government imports the surplus to satisfy the local market.

According to the Agriculture Minister, plans are underway in the coming budget session slated for the financial year of 2024/25, his ministry is expecting to make some minor changes in the agricultural sector. 

He says that the ministry would make sure that it takes various steps including increasing the budget to increase the production levels of sugarcane in various farming estates used as a raw material for sugar production, alongside the increase of better seeds for the diversification of agricultural irrigation as a new method to expand the sector.

Bashe is of the view that aims to make sure that the production of sugarcane for the 2024/25 financial year increases to attain the needed 470,000 tons of sugar as widely expected. The program put in place will to a large extent help reduce much dependence on sugar that is being imported from abroad.

It’s customary that sugar prices have continued to increase despite the government’s move to allow its importation duty-free from outside the common market for the Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region. The imported commodity from other parts of the world attracts at least 30 percent duty under the East African Community’s common external tariff.

In addition, imports have failed to stabilize prices as local sugar production has reduced due to cane shortage which means the imports on their own cannot satisfy the growing demand.

Statistics made available in NBS demographic tables show that imports have decreased by 20 percent rate. With demand outstripping supply, it means changes in global sugar prices directly impact local prices.

With the government’s authorities turning a blind eye to the sudden increase, the situation has caused endless debates and worries among customers some of whom fail to afford the little increase in tariffs due to financial constraints.