Illovo Malawi Plc Managing Director Lekani Katandula has disclosed that his company is still discussing with government on mapping way forward on issue of sugar prices.
Katandula was speaking during a tour of Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture to Illovo depots in Mchinji to appreciate sugar prices in Malawi and Zambia.
The tour comes after concerns and debates that sugar in Malawi is expensive and unaffordable by Malawians compared to the neighbouring countries.
He said they organised the trip to prove to the policy makers and the media that Malawi’s sugar is cheap than neighbouring countries of Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania.
“Few days ago we made a presentation to trade committee of parliament where we showed that dollar equivalence with neighbouring currencies is stronger, therefore Sugar in those countries is much higher than in Malawi,” explained Katandula.
Then, when Commenting on sugar prices along the boarders between Malawi and Zambia, Chairperson for Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Sammeer Suleiman dismissed the assumption that Malawi’s sugar is expensive following their findings at Mchinji border.
He said: “What we hear is not what’s on the ground when we compare the prices of Malawi sugar against Mozambique and Zambia. We have proved that Malawi sugar is cheaper than our neighbouring countries.”
“There is a lot of talking in regards to sugar prices, as a committee directly involved, we thought it wise to engage the stakeholders to find out more through an assessment to compare with what has been said out there,” elaborated Suleiman.
He added that there is high demand of sugar at the Mwami boarder with an estimate of 80 to 90% of sugar which cross into Zambia.
As a result, Committee Chairperson advised both the central government and Illovo to put aside and discuss their differences amicably and map the way forward for the benefit of Malawians.
Suleman said the committee will write a detailed report to parliament on the findings of their assessment of sugar prices.