SOSUMO revises list of sugar wholesalers to end speculation

Bujumbura residents report an increase in the price of sugar since January 2020 while traders speak of a shortage of this product in stocks.

Brigadier Genearal Aloys Ndayikengurukiye, Managing Director of SOSUMO

Brigadier General Aloys Ndayikengurukiye, Managing Director of Moso Sugar Company explains that the quantity of sugar sold from January 2019 to January 2020 remains the same. The quantity sold since January 2019 has varied from 1200 to 1500 tons.

“For example, in January 2019, SOSUMO sold 1,358 tons of sugar, in February 2019, 1,221 tons, in March, 1,257 tons… in December, 1,450 tons and in January 2020, we sold 1,415 tons,” says SOSUMO Managing Director who specifies that in January 2020, the company sold a larger amount of sugar than in January 2019.

The price of sugar has not changed. A 50 kg bag of sugar is sold at BIF 111,000 in all SOSUMO warehouses. “Traders who get their supplies directly from SOSUMO warehouses resell a 50kg bag of sugar at BIF 114,000 while for retailers, a 50kg bag is sold at BIF 117,000, hence a kg of sugar costs BIF 2340,” says Ndayikengurukiye.

He says the price of sugar has increased in various shops and markets in Bujumbura. “This price increase would result from speculation by some sellers who hide sugar in their warehouses and therefore cause the shortage of this product,” he regrets.

He indicates that SOSUMO reviewed the list of sugar wholesalers in order to put an end to speculation. SOSUMO Managing Director indicates that sellers who complied with the official price from January 2019 to January 2020 have been kept on the list. SOSUMO customers who have abandoned the sugar trade since April 2017 but who have resumed it since October 2019 have been removed from the list of sugar wholesalers. Ndayikengurukiye explains that the latter had taken over this activist following rumors that circulated about a probable shortage of sugar. “They are not loyal customers of SOSUMO,” says SOSUMO Managing Director.

SOSUMO added to the list of wholesalers, the owners of food shops who continued to sell sugar at the official price when others were speculating. He calls on the administrative and security authorities to support SOSUMO, which is committed to making sugar available.