Ministry of Trade and Industry has given Illovo Sugar (Malawi) plc a seven-day ultimatum from to reduce the price of sugar.

This has been revealed in a statement released by Minister of Trade and Industry, Simplex Chithyola Banda.

According to Chithyola, the ultimatum comes after an engagement meeting which was held on Sunday centered on the pricing of Sugar by Illovo Sugar Ltd and resolved that the price must be reduced.

Government has since threatened that it would issue more import licences to more industry players to help cushion the price of commodities that use sugar as raw material, if the company does not reduce the price.

Already, the government has issued two sugar import licences to Mugisha Investments to bring in 20 000 metric tonnes of brown sugar, a development Illovo has protested, saying this will affect local manufacturers.