Uganda has a surplus of 36,000 metric tonnes of sugar. This was established and confirmed by a verification mission on the Ugandan sugar sector undertaken by Kenyan Government, ruling out all the controversies that have been surrounding Uganda’s sugar exports to the region.

There has been a serious contention in the Region on whether Uganda has sufficient sugar to export to its neighbours in the Region. However, it has been proven that, Uganda has surplus of over 35,000 metric tonnes

Such sentiments impelled the presidents of the two countries Uhuru Kenyatta of the Republic of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of the Republic of Uganda to direct the Ministers responsible for International Trade in their countries to resolve any Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) affecting trade between the two countries including the issue of sugar. Consequently, a bilateral meeting of the Kenya-Uganda Joint Trade Committee (JTC) took place in Nairobi on 29^th and 30^th October, 2015. The meeting agreed inter alia, that Kenya undertakes a verification mission of the Uganda sugar sector.

The verification mission was tasked to determine Uganda’s sugar production, consumption and import and export capacities by country and sugar types. The mission was also to determine and agree on the sugar delivery schedules and export procedures by Uganda, and as well study the report of the meeting of the Uganda Revenue Authority, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Uganda Sugar Manufacturer’s Association, Kenya Revenue Authority and the EAC Secretariat which took place from 9^th to 11^th September, 2015 and agreed on administrative procedures for trade in sugar.

The team conducting the verification mission carried out factory visits from 23^rd to 26^thMay 2016. It comprised officials from both Kenya and Uganda. Members of the Kenyan delegation were drawn from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives (International Trade Directorate), Sugar Directorate, Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Sugar Manufacturers Association and a representative of the Kenya High Commission in Kampala. The Uganda delegation comprised of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Uganda Revenue Authority and Uganda Sugar Manufacturers Association

The team visited 11 sugar factories including; Kakira Sugar Works Ltd, Mayuge Sugar Ltd, Kaliro & Allied Industries Ltd, Kamuli Sugar Ltd, Seven Star Sugar Ltd, GM Sugar, Uganda Farmers Crop Industries Ltd, SCOUL, Hoima Sugar Ltd, Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd and Ndibulungi Sugar Works. They collected data on sugar production and sales, made physical observations of sugar stocks in the stores, held discussions with senior factory managers and also held a meeting with Uganda government officials from Ministry of Trade, Industry and cooperatives, Uganda Bureau of Statistics and Uganda Revenue Authority.

According to the findings, Uganda’s Surplus Sugar for the year 2014/15 was 36,000MT on average. In the year 2014, Uganda’s sugar production stood at 400,499.05 MT and out of that consumption was 342,325.14MT. 84,603.3MT were exported leaving a balance of 26,429.29MT.

In 2015, Uganda produced 396,315.95MT of sugar and consumption stood at 329,896MT. 49,810.55MT were exported leaving a balance of 16,604.4MT of sugar.

Out of the Surplus of 36,000MT, it was agreed that Uganda exports an average of 9000 MT quarterly to the Kenyan market.

After the verification, the two countries agreed to work closely to ensure good trade relations through holding subsequent meetings comprised of all stakeholders in the sugar sector. The Ministries responsible for International Trade and Revenue Authorities for both countries have also appointed focal point officers to deal with Sugar issues and mechanisms to curb the influx of illegal sugar into the EAC are to be enhanced and strongly enforced. Uganda has appointed 3 officers, 1 from URA and 2 from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.

Kenya and Uganda have agreed to jointly undertake verification to determine the origin of the illegal sugar in query.