MAN Calls For Paradigm Shift from Importation Of $406bn Brazil’s Raw Sugar to Boost African Sugar Industry

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has harped on the need for the local sugar refineries to consider buying the raw commodity from other African countries in the spirit of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) than from Brazil with a view to increasing the Intra -African trade from the current 17 percent to 50 percent by 2040.

Engr. Mansur Ahmed made the call while interacting with the media at the sideline of the luncheon with the Industry journalists in Lagos.

According to the MAN President, “the sugar consumed in Nigeria is imported from Brazil and refined here, but Sudan and Egypt are producers; we can buy from them and refine here.”

However, available statistics from the National Sugar Development Council on raw sugar imports indicated that Dangote Sugar Refinery, BUA Sugar Refinery and Golden Sugar Refinery, a subsidiary of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc in 2021 imported a combined 1.5 billion metric tons of raw sugar valued at $406.3 billion from Brazil.

Globally, 124 countries produce sugar, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) of the United Nations, while Brazil ranks as the largest sugar-producing country in the world, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa and  Sudan are among the leading producers of sugar in Africa.

Engr Ahmed posited that three sugar refineries in Nigeria have continued to invest in sugar cane farms across the country and are getting presidential approval Year -in-Year for raw sugar imports allocation to the refineries.