More than N120 billion raw sugar was imported into the country in the last few months, it was learnt.
It was projected that the country would need 1.7 million metric tons to meet local consumption in this out going year.
Findings revealed that more sugar has been offloaded at the port since the beginning of the last quarter following the poor implementation of National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) which has not yielded positive result about a decade after its introduction..
Investigation revealed that domestic production by sugar firms fell by 6.25 per cent from 80,000 metric tons to 75,000 tons per cent since 2019 due to flood and lack of infrastructure to meet local demand
Mostly affected recently is Sunti Golden Sugar Estate (SGSE), owned by Flour Mills, which has suffered some disruptions to its operations as floodwater breached its sugar estate.
Investigation has also shown that 15 vessels offloaded over 500,000 tons worth over N120billion in the last few months at the Lagos port.
The country’s production capacity, it was learnt, is less than 300, 000 tons despite the fact that the sugar master plans will terminate in 2022.
International Trade Centre (ITC) said Nigeria imported $463,387,000 worth of raw sugar in 2019 to become the second largest importer of the commodity in Africa,
Some weeks ago, four vessels offloaded 193, 990 tons of the commodity at Greenview Development Nigerian Limited (GDNL) Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL), Lagos Port.
According to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)’s Shipping Position, Magda P berthed with 46,500 tons; Leto, 48,740 tons; CL Edi, 46,000 tons and Desert Osprey with 52,750 tons.
Also, two ships arrived at Lagos Port with 96,500 metric tons of raw sugar in October.
At the GDNL, Kirana Naree arrived with 46,000tons, while Genco Brittany came with 46,500tons.
A total of 194, 050 tons was also discharged by four vessels at ABTL and GNDL in September.
SBI Bravo offloaded 49,000 tons, Almasi, 46,400 tons and Genco Provence, 46300tons have been moored at GDNL, while Desert Hope discharged 52, 350 tons at ABTL of the port.
In August this year, a total of 138, 115 tons of the commodity was ferried by three vessels to Lagos Port complex, with Hinoki laden with 46,900 tons; Spar Mira, 46,500 tons and Aruna Ece, 44,715 tons.
As part of efforts to boost local production, government introduced 20 per cent import duty and 75 per cent levy on refined sugar this year.
Also, raw sugar quotas at the concessionary tariff of five per cent duty and five per cent levy were allocated by the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) to operators on the basis of performance of their BIP projects.
It was gathered that part of the incentives to boost domestic production of sugar include: a five-year tax for investors in the value chain; 10 per cent import duty and 50 per cent levy on imported raw sugar; 20 per cent duty and 60 per cent levy for imported refined sugar.
