Sugar imports could collapse Komenda – TEGLEU

The revamped Komenda Sugar Factory in the Central Region will collapse if government does not institute measures to ensure that the sugar produced at home is less expensive compared to imported sugar, Mr Abraham Koomson, General Secretary of the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees Union (TEGLEU) of the Ghana Federation of Labour, has said.

According to him, the trend where imported products including cloths and sugar were less expensive than the locally produced ones, was contributing to the collapse of locally-produced items and tends to kill indigenous companies.

The Komenda Sugar Factory, inaugurated by President John Dramani Mahama earlier this month, has started producing sugar for commercial purposes.

But speaking in an interview with Prince Minkah, host of the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM Wednesday June 22, Mr Koomson said: “It is nice that they have revamped this, but we [Ghanaians] will destroy it ourselves because they don’t expect the cost of production to be far cheaper, it will not happen. [If] it’s too expensive, we won’t buy. So, what government must think about is to put a policy, a very effective policy in place, which will discourage importation of these products, otherwise people will bring them from wherever at a cheaper cost and come and sell just to undermine [the locally-produced one],” he added.

Mr Koomson further said on the programme: “…It is good we have done it but if we are not very careful, somebody, maybe government itself, may not import, but business people will import, bring them [imported sugar] here cheaper, like it is happening to the cloths.”