On Monday, the management of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc said it will significantly reduce the importation of sugar into the country by 40 % and create over 30,000 employment.
The statement issued by the company quoted the Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group to have said that the company is embarking on Phase II of its sugar project which will cover over 100,000 hectares of land making it the largest sugar plant in Africa.
According to the statement, Dangote said the integrated sugar complex that will be located in Tunga, Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State is made up of 60,000 hectares of sugar plantation and two sugar factories with the capacity to produce 430,000 tonnes of refined white sugar annually.
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In the statement the company gave account of some trading data in the industry, saying that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)’s shipping data revealed that Auarius Honor and Ocean Crown would be at Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL), a subsidiary of Dangote Group to offload 45,850 tonnes and 46,750 tonnes respectively.”
“Following high demand in the food and drinks sector, GDNL took delivery of 187,000 tonnes from four vessels in May this year.”
“At the terminal, Common Galaxy came with 48,800 tonnes; Bonny Island, 47,200 tonnes; Chayanee Naree, 46,000 tonnes, and Karteria Bluesrar, 45,000 tonnes. Also, in April, the terminal took delivery of 91,600 tonnes when Unity Bluestar offloaded 47,200 tonnes and Ecoatlantic, 44,400 tonnes.”
The statement further stated that NPA shipping data showed that 67,000 tonnes of sugar were offloaded at ENL Consortium and GDNL pointing out that the ENL terminal took delivery of 20,000 tonnes from Doro, while Baltic Mantis offloaded 47,000 tonnes at GDNL.
It also added that Genco Picardy berthed with 46,500 tonnes in February, while two vessels previously offloaded 101,422 tonnes in January, stressing that Desert Calm berthed with 55,352 tonnes and Pauline, 46,070 tonnes.
According to the statement, Nigeria imported $1.82 billion beet sugar, sugar syrups, and other sugar confectionery between 2019 to 2021.
