Press release
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment wishes to inform the general public especially the importers of essential commodities that the essential commodity Act, enacted in 2015 is being brought into force. The Act aims to regulate importation, distribution and retailing of essential commodities to ensure availability at fair and reasonable prices.
The Act requires importers of essential commodities to obtain an import license from the Ministry to be able to import these commodities. The essential commodities in question are rice, sugar, Edible oil, Flour, chicken thighs, whole chicken, Onions and potatoes.
In this regards, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment is reintroducing the licensing system and hereby inform all importers of the above commodities to obtain an import license from the Ministry with immediate effect. The enforcement of the import license will commence by 1st May 2021. No importer would be allowed to import the above commodities without an import license. The application form and the guidelines can be collected from the Ministry from Monday to Thursday during working hours (8:00 am –4:00 pm) and all completed application forms should be submitted to the same Ministry.
This Ministry requests the understanding and cooperation of the general public particularly the importers in this exercise.
