Raw sugar sales 32% down

Raw sugar sales has fallen by 32 percent, as beverage manufacturers suffered the impact of the sugar tax, Hippo Valley, the country’s biggest sugar producer, said in its updates with regards to performance in the June quarter.

Apparently, sugar production rose by 8%, as cane supply improved by 15%. The company’s SunSweet sugar brand sold 19% more sugar than last year.

Further, some industrial customers continued to import, impacting sales even more. Hippo expects some recovery from this quarter.

Government introduced the Sugar Tax in 2024 to reduce consumption of sugary drinks and combat non-communicable diseases.

Initially set at US$0,02 per gramme of sugar in beverages, the levy was later reduced to US$0,001 in response to industry concerns. But industry officials still feel the levy is too high.

“Beverage manufacturers continue to engage the authorities, advocating for the complete removal of the excise duty,” BMA chairperson Calum Philp told businessdigest.

“In an extremely price sensitive market, the industry argues that the tax has introduced an additional value chain burden in an already challenging operating environment marked by high input costs, power supply constraints, and inflationary pressures.”

Due to this, he said, the outlook for Zimbabwe’s beverage sector was extremely bleak, with the industry facing declining volumes due to unregulated domestic and foreign products flooding the market.