TANZANIA – KILOMBERO Sugar Company Limited has introduced 5kg pack ‘Bwana Sukari pack’ of sugar in market to cater for the growing demand for prepacked sweetener aimed at increasing accessibility and ultimately penetrate wider market.
The Morogoro region based company said the new product has come up as a result of market research conducted by its agents earlier this year that showed high demand for hygienically pre-packed.
“Prior to introducing this new 5kg Bwana Sukari pack, we conducted some market research and established that customers with slightly higher demand of sugar on a regular basis prefer to purchase sugar in bulks, ranging from 5kg to 10kg,” said the company’s commercial director, Fimbo Butallah.
Butalla said in Dar es Salaam that the new pack is also appealing to consumers as it gives them the option of getting a hygienically pre-packed sugar straight from the factory other than from retail shops which is normally loose.
He warned consumers against the dangers of buying sugar in loose or packed in unbranded plastic bags at retail shops as facing risks of poor hygiene and taking expired sugar which is dangerous to huma health.
“We therefore do not expect to see retailers continuing to pack and sell sugar in the unbranded 5kg bags, because it is not only against the law, but not hygiene too,” added the KSC’s commercial director.
The new development comes at the time when the sugar company envisions executing its expansion plan whose study has reached an advanced stage.
The estimates of the investment that will include expanding the sugar factory, expanding small scale farmers cane growing and related infrastructure will amount to around US$300 million.
Currently, the total demand for sugar in Tanzania country has surged by over 16 per cent to 710,000 tonnes from 610,000 tonnes last year.
The rise in demand was contributed by the increase in new industries that use the sweetener, with the current demand for industrial sugar reaching 165,000 tonnes.
