A total of 310,683 metric tonnes of raw sugar valued at over N18 billion was imported into the country in the first quarter of 2016, an official data has shown.
The data was released by the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) in Abuja.
The figures show that the imports cost the country a total of 97 million dollars in foreign exchange within the period.
The figure was gathered based on the international average price of raw sugar, published alongside the import data.
A monthly breakdown of the figures shows that a total of 94,199mt of sugar was imported in January; 90,200mt in February and 126,283mt in March.
This is valued at N5.8 billion, N5.2 billion and N8.5 billion in January, February and March repetitively.
The record shows that the product was imported by licence holders, Dangote, BUA and Golden Sugar companies as well as Edo Cement between January and March.
According to the data, the imports originate from Brazil, which is the world’s largest sugarcane producer.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria’s annual sugar demand currently stands at about 1.4 million tonnes, according to the NSDC.
The Executive Secretary of the council, Mr Latif Busari, said recently that local production of raw sugar was still very low at less than five per cent of demand.
In 2013, the Federal Government launched the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) aimed at shoring up local sugar production to attain sufficiency and stem the tide of importation.
The policy requires companies granted licences for raw sugar importation to invest in backward integration projects and source their raw materials from their local production within three years of plant commissioning.
Busari told stakeholders at a recent meeting that the country was on target in implementation of the policy as the companies had shown sign of commitment toward its realisation. (NAN)
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