Dangote Sugar notes 13.7% production growth in 2020

Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has encouraged the government to faithfully follow through with the Backward Integration Policy in the sugar industry as the nation stands to rake in foreign exchange (forex) up to $700millon yearly from Sugar production self-sufficiency.  

Chairman of Dangote Sugar Refinery Aliko Dangote, yesterday, at its 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, said that allowing for distortions in the sugar masterplan framework will adversely affect the target of the nation attaining self-sufficiency as projected.

He described the backward integration policy as commendable which will not only reduce imports of raw sugar but save the nation’s enormous forex used for importation.

Dangote expressed delight that the BIP in the Sugar industry is going on well and added: “If the National Sugar Master Plan is followed strictly and the players all follow the rules, the country will be better for it as Nigeria will save between $600million and $700 million annually as forex” 

He stated that the backward integration policy of Dangote Sugar Refinery is recording appreciable progress even as he declared the company’s irrevocable commitment to the policy.

Addressing the shareholders, Dangote opined that despite the disruptions in the economy occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, Dangote Sugar Refinery has announced an increase in production volume which rose by 13.7 per cent to 743,858 tonnes in the financial year ended December 31, 2020, compared to 654,071 tonnes in 2019.