Sugar shortages allayed

Harare, (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe has enough sugar to satisfy the domestic market, and even has surplus to export despite shortages of the commodity currently being experienced in the country, a sugar industry expert said on Thursday.

In an interview, Zimbabwe Sugar Association Experiment Station senior agriculture and industrial research chemist, Dr Washington Mutatu implored the public not to panic over the unavailability of sugar in the country, saying there is enough sugar cane in the country.

“I think currently we are producing enough sugar cane to produce sugar which should be able to supply our domestic market and export. So consumers should not be worried about the availability of sugar, it’s actually available,” he said.

He said export of the commodity was uncompetitive because of the high production costs in the country, chiefly accounted for by electricity, water, fertilier and labour.

“Our cost of production is very high, so as scientists we have to investigate ways and methods of reducing the cost of production,” said Dr Mutatu.

He implored sugar producers to diversity into manufacture of more by-products of the commodity to improve their revenue streams.

Some of the by-products of sugar are ethanol, fuels and molasses.

New Ziana