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Kenya has declared sugar imported from Malawi and Egypt unfit for human consumption but Illovo Sugar (Malawi) Limited has dismissed this claim as “false, ridiculous and irresponsible.”
The Monday issue of Kenya’s East African Standard quotes Kenya Sugar Board’s (KSB) chief executive Andrew Otieno as saying tests revealed “unacceptable levels of insolubles in the products.”
“Otieno said the sugar had been found to have heavy metal contaminants and microbiological parameters that are harmful to humans,” reported the paper.
But Illovo’s public relations officer Irene Phalula said in an interview yesterday her company suspects “ulterior motives” behind the allegations for because the product undergoes various tests and certification and that, apart from Kenya, there are many other countries it is exported to and yet none of them has raised any problem.
Malawi sugar is certified to ISO 9001/2000 quality management system, which is an international quality standard.
“ISO conducts regular audits of our operations to ensure that we are maintaining the ISO standards,” said Phalula, adding that locally, the product is also certified by the Malawi Bureau of Standards and that it is also tested in Illovo’s own laboratories.
In the Sadc region, Malawi exports sugar to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Mozambique while under Comesa, it is exported to Uganda, Kenya and Madagascar, among other countries.
As a member of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) producer group, Malawi exports sugar to preferentially priced markets in Europe. Other countries include United States of America and the European Union member states.
Phalula said Malawi supplied about 41,940 tonnes to the EU and USA during the past season.
“We have never received complaints from any other country except Kenya,” she said.
Malawi has been exporting sugar to Kenya under Comesa trade agreement since 2000 and this year Malawi was expecting to export about 45,000 metric tons to Kenya.
Phalula said Kenya has a shortfall of 200,000 metric tons of sugar per annum to meet local demand which local production cannot satisfy..
“It is obvious that someone is trying to do everything possible to block us and if they succeed, Kenya will still have to import some more sugar to meet the shortfall in supply.
“It is obvious that there is someone who is waiting in the wings to get this contract through any means possible and this is where these allegations are originating from,” she said.
Phalula noted that this is not the first time there has been an attempt in Kenya to block the market to foreign competition.
“They have tried several times but Comesa secretariat has assisted in sorting out some of the complaints. At one time, without warning, they rejected a whole consignment from Malawi for a simple reason that the bags did not indicate an address from where the sugar was coming,” she said.
In the past, Kenya was importing sugar mainly from Thailand and Brazil but with the Comesa trade agreement in place, the country now imports sugar from fellow Comesa member states such as Sudan, Egypt and Malawi.
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