By HELLEN ZULU –
THE Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has fined Zambia Sugar more than K76 million for price discrimination and unfair pricing after an investigation that lasted four years revealed the irregularities.
But Zambia Sugar managing director Rebecca Katowa has disputed the commission’s findings from both the factual and legal perspective.
CCPC board chairperson Kelvin Bwalya said the company had been ordered to formulate competitive prices for both household and industrial sugar sold on the domestic market.
Mr Bwalya said in a statement yesterday that the decision to fine the company was made during the third special board of commissioners’ meeting for adjudication of cases held in Lusaka on September 25th this year.
He said this was after a protracted investigation by the commission which found that Zambia Sugar had engaged in unfair pricing against selected household sugar users as well as price discrimination among industrial sugar users.
“The investigation that lasted four years revealed that industrial sugar users on contract arrangements with Zambia Sugar were categorised as A and B, allegedly based on the volumes purchased.
Category A was contracted for at least 1,000 tonnes and category B for at most 1000 tonnes of sugar per year,” he said.
The Commission found that some customers within Category A were still charged lower prices for the same industrial sugar compared to others.
He said the investigation revealed that customers who purchased the highest quantities within Category A such as Trade Kings paid much more than other customers that purchased lower volumes, such as Zambia Breweries and Varun Beverages.
He said the 2008-2012 investigation period revealed that industrial customers were not accorded similar discounts even based on volumes.

Other customers that were discriminated against included Californian Beverages, Invesco Zambia, Musa Biscuits and Parmalat Zambia.
Mr Bwalya said the board concluded that offering varying discounts to the competitors in the same category distorted the natural progression of competition as the discounts clearly put favoured companies at a competitive advantage over others.
He said the investigation further revealed that even though Zambia Sugar had categorised industrial customers as Category A and B, both categories of customers signed contracts with the company specifying the volumes to be purchased and type of sugar, which was of exactly the same.
He said the investigation also revealed that Zambia Sugar was charging household users in the Zambian market 41per cent higher compared to what it charged its export customers in the Great Lakes Region for the exact same product.
Zambia Sugar’s submissions that the lower prices in export markets were to meet competition in the export market meant that consumers in Zambia were being exploited because the producer did not face effective competition in Zambia.
Ms Katowa said the company acknowledged the fine for the alleged abuse of its dominance of the Zambian market, but disputed the CCPC’s findings, both from a factual and a legal perspective.
Ms Katowa said Zambia Sugar was preparing an  appeal to the Competition Tribunal, which would be filed within the prescribed time.
She said in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday that the matter would only be finalised when the appeal process had been concluded.