This increment comes amid the forex exchange (FX) restrictions placed on the commodity by the apex regulating bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Between January and June 2022, 965,000 metric tonnes of brown sugar was imported from Brazil.
Brazil has consistently remained the main supplier of raw sugar, the main ingredient for sugar production in the country.
This import commodity was valued at N385 billion ($592.18 million) as the price moved from $397 to $443 per tonne in one month.
According to the foreign trade report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s sugar cane import surged by 61.31% to N425.6 billion in 2021, compared to N263.84 billion spent in the previous year.
This figure was supposed to have significantly reduced due to CBN's directive to place Sugar on its FX restriction list.
In 2019, the National Sugar Development Council had projected an annual income of $56 million in FX for the country if the move to reduce sugar import and increase local production was sustained.
In a bid to follow up with the plan, the CBN issued a circular in 2021 stating that only sugar refining companies that have considerable progress in achieving an agreed backward integration plan will be allowed to source FX from the official window to import sugar into the country.
BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, Dangote Sugar Refinery, and Golden Sugar Company were listed as the approved companies.
These three major operators accounted for about 99.8 percent of sugar use in the country as at 2019.
CBN went ahead to stop authorized FX dealers from providing FX to any company, including the three companies, except it receives express permission and approval.
Sugar usage in Nigeria however, has been narrowed down to the consumption power of three states, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos.
These states have been recorded to consume 80 percent of the 1.75 million tonnes of sugar imported into the country in 2021.
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