The Chadian Sugar Company (CST) threatens to put the key under the mat because of the slump in its production due to fraud, smuggling and counterfeiting.
By Achille Mbog Pibasso
The economic and financial difficulties of the CTS are not new. Except that the situation goes from bad to worse, at the risk of pushing for bankruptcy, this agribusiness company located in Banda in the province of Moyen Chari in the extreme south of the country, formerly the flagship industrial of Chad. Faced with the difficulties following the slump in sugar, CST officials have not gone through four ways to agitate the threat of closure.
And for good reason, for eight months, stocks of sugar estimated at over 36 000 tons are unsold because of fraud, smuggling and counterfeiting, real gangrene of the economic fabric. The statement issued on April 5, 2019, signed by Deputy Director General of the CST, Emmanuel Castells is unequivocal. There is a business around the sugar market whose ramifications go up to the crowns of the state. As a result, “despite the decision prohibiting the importation of sugar and its sale in certain areas of the country, these people continue to import and sell where they want. There are people who import from Sudan, others import from the port of Douala “.
Dismissal of employees
According to concordant accounts, sugar imported from South Africa, Brazil, India, Sudan or Thailand sells for less, on average 27,000 FCFA per 50 kg bag, while sugar produced locally for the same capacity costs 32,000 FCFA. An “unfair competition” according to the CST which, in addition to investing in production and to fulfill its social rights, must also return tax rights to the public treasury, while others who do not claim any investment can afford to lower the price without too much risk.
The direct consequence of this situation is that “the company can no longer pay taxes to the Chadian state. It no longer collects the Value Added Tax (VAT) for lack of sales for 8 months. If nothing is done in the next few days to stop the fraudulent importation of sugar particularly in southern Chad, the CST threatens to close its doors and put out of work its 2063 workers, “said the company’s leaders .
A few years ago, this difficult situation led the CTS to close the N’Djamena factory, causing the dismissal of hundreds of employees. It is obvious that if strong measures are not taken at the governmental level to save the production tool, the same causes will inevitably produce the same effects.
