The Zimbabwe Sugar Association (ZSA) says Zimbabwe has enough sugar for the domestic market and even has a surplus to export.
This comes amid reports that sugar is not readily available in some major retail chains.
ZSA senior agriculture and industrial research chemist Washington Mutatu told New Ziana that the public must not panic over the availability of sugar. He said:
I think currently we are producing enough sugar cane to produce sugar which should be able to supply our domestic market and for export.
So consumers should not be worried about the availability of sugar, it’s actually available.
Mutatu also said sugar produced locally was uncompetitive because of the high production costs of electricity, water, fertiliser and labour. He said:
Our cost of production is very high, so as scientists we have to investigate ways and methods of reducing the cost of production.
Mutatu urged sugar producers to diversify into the manufacture of more sugar by-products to improve their revenue streams.
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