HARARE-Tongaat Hullet Zimbabwe boss, Aiden Mhere dispelled fears over the US$0.02 sugar tax which the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Mthuli Ncube proposed in the 2024 national budget.
Mhere was responding to a question from the editors who were drawn from different media houses around the country during an Editors/ Tongaat Hullet Zimbabwe breakfast meeting in Harare recently.
Coaxed to highlight the effects of the proposed tax, Mhere had this to say; “It’s a channel of different players at different level of operation. As Tongaat Hullet, for now we cannot say this is going to affect us in any way. After the proposal, as the biggest player in the field, we have since started engagements with different players at different level to try and see how this might affect our operations,” said Mhere.
He however, did not dismiss chances that it might affect demand of the commodity due to possible price increases.
“It’s clear, this will force a number of players to look elsewhere in the manufacturing sector thereby affecting the demand chain for the commodity,” he added.
Mhere noted that the Statutory Instrument (SI 80 of 2023) duty-free imports of basic commodities, among them sugar, were legalised from May of this year. This move unfortunately had a negative impact on the cashflows of players in the sugar industry and they have continued to lobby government to repeal this statutory instrument.
“As is commonly known, through Statutory Instrument (SI 80 of 2023) duty-free imports of basic commodities, among them sugar, were legalised from May of this year. This move unfortunately had a negative impact on the cashflows of players in the sugar industry and we continue to lobby government to repeal this statutory instrument,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mhere added that they have enough sugar in stock for both the domestic and export markets.
“We want to assure you that despite the challenges of the current season, the sugar company has adequate sugar stocks to meet both domestic and export market commitment,” reiterated Mhere.
