It is in principle at the beginning of November that the Société Nouvelle-Société sucrière de la Comoé (SN-SOSUCO) will officially launch the sugar production campaign. But the national sugar industry has been seriously threatened by smuggling and fraud which, for several years, have unfortunately developed in Burkina Faso.
SN-SOSUCO produces blond sugar, in granules and pieces. It is better quality sugar, much appreciated by the Burkinabè. Even if its annual production (around 30,000 tonnes/year for a capacity of 38,000 tonnes) is far from covering national demand, the Company faces various difficulties. First, it is not allowed to import sugar to supplement domestic demand. So, when her production is finished, she waits for the next campaign. Thus putting a good part of its seasonal and temporary workers on technical unemployment.
It must nevertheless be recognized that thanks to the action of the Ministry in charge of Industry, which took beneficial decisions, and also to the rise in prices on the international market, SN-SOSUCO no longer has a problem of poor sales. for three years.
One of the problems that has most unbalanced the sugar market is the “reference value” used for customs clearance of imported sugar.
Since the Blaise Compaoré regime, customs clearance of imported sugar has been done on the basis of a value of 190,000 FCFA/tonne regardless of the actual purchase price by the importer. A reference value is in fact a floor (minimum) value; but in the present case it is a ceiling value applied to both granulated sugar and lump sugar while on the international market there is a difference of nearly 200,000 FCFA/tonne between the two types of sugar. sugar.
This practice turns out to be in reality a subsidy that the State grants to imported sugar to the detriment of national production. For example, if we take the current price (July 2023) of the international market, the State waives 105,128 FCFA per tonne of powdered sugar, and 181,163 FCFA/tonne of pieces.
Today the national market’s need is around 150,000 tonnes, or even more according to estimates. If the State has decided to subsidize sugar to avoid too sharp a rise in consumer prices, this subsidy should be aimed at everyone, and not just at imported sugar, forgetting the 30,000 tonnes produced locally at the risk of killing the national industry.
If SN-SOSUCO benefited from the same advantages as importers, it would have no marketing difficulties despite episodes of falling prices on the international market.
Finally, the second problem which is the most serious for the national economy as a whole is fraud. It takes multiple forms:
- False declarations on product quality (sugar declared as rice, milk, etc.);
- False declarations of quantity;
- Entry without going through customs services;
- Etc.
For example, importers would be bringing in (if it has not already been brought in and stored in stores) counterfeit blonde sugar to put it on the market as soon as SN-SOSUCO starts its campaign.
SN-SOSUCO being the only sugar production industry in Burkina (as is the case in other countries in the sub-region), it must benefit from state protection like its counterparts in other countries. . Because, in this respect, it appears as an industry of national sovereignty.
Series Aymard BOGNINI
