Luanda - Angola will import 210 thousand tons of white crystal sugar, by the end of this year, to stabilize the domestic consumption market and encourage a significant reduction in prices, said Tuesday, in Luanda, the national director of Industry, Evaristo Baptist.
Speaking to ANGOP, the official explained that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce identified, last February, more than 10
operators, of which three were already licensed, to import 60 thousand tons of sugar, through a public tender “auction inverted", Of this
quantity, he clarified, 15 thousand tons have been distributed since March, which has had an impact of 3.53% on the reduction in the final
price of sugar, so far.
The remaining 45 thousand tons will begin to arrive in the country, starting next June. According to the director, along with this fact,
the procedures for licensing the remaining operators selected for the import process of the 210 thousand tons, scheduled for the end of the year, are taking place.
He added that Angola has a consumption need of between 210 and 244 thousand tons per year, with domestic production
set at around 100 thousand tons, representing 44% of the country's consumption.
Asked about regularity in distribution and national production levels, Evaristo Baptista said that the goal is to promote sugarcane
production, in order to achieve self-sufficiency of this widely consumed product, by 2027.
To this end, and within the scope of a program defined by the Angolan Government, he said that 10 thousand hectares of land had been
identified in the province of Malanje for the cultivation of sugar cane, with the aim of significantly increasing the share of national
production.
From this perspective, by 2025, a production factory will be implemented with 100% national raw material, with the capacity to
refine three thousand tons per day, in a private investment, according to the source. Still within this framework, the national director
reiterated that producers can use the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC) to finance sugarcane production. OPF/VC/TED/DOJ
