Concern as Sugar Prices Shoot Up Countrywide     

Concern as Sugar Prices Shoot Up Countrywide

Anita Among, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has asked the Committee on Trade, Tourism, and Industry to look into the high price of sugar in the nation.

This came after Hon. Fred Ssimbwa, the representative for Nakifuma county, raised a matter of national urgency regarding the growing price of sugar and the declining price of sugar cane during plenary on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

According to Ssimbwa, the price of sugar has increased over the past four months, going from Sh150,000 for a 50Kg bag in May to Sh165,000 for the same in June 2022.

He claimed that in just nine days, the price of sugar increased four times between September and October, from Sh185,000 to Sh195,000. He said that this price increased once more from Sh215,000 to Sh217,000 in less than a week.

Despite the high price of sugar in his Nakifuma constituency, he claimed that the farm gate price of sugar cane had continued to decline.

“A bag of sugar costs between Sh230,000 and Sh240,000 in some locations, such Kikuubo. I want the Ministry of Trade to explain the current sugar situation to me,” he stated.

Hon. Harriet Ntabazi, the state minister for trade, stated that the problem of rising prices was a severe one given that there was an excess of sugar produced as a result of the opening of new facilities in the previous two years.

Speaker Anita Among asked the minister to outline the steps the government will take to keep sugar prices stable.

She further requested that the Committee on Trade and Tourism investigate the situation and update the House.