Dangote Demand BUA Sugar Refinery Closed Over Failure To Increase Product Price
……It’s because we refused price Increase during Ramadan BUA replies
For some time, a major war has raged in the Nigerian sugar industry, and the bubbles appeared to have burst with Dangote’s decision to petition the Federal Government, requesting that the Ministry of Trade shut down BUA Group’s Sugar Refinery in Port Harcourt.
The billionaire claimed in a letter dated January 28, 2021, signed by Aliko Dangote as Chairman Dangote Industries Limited, that when the BUA Sugar refinery opened, he warned the government, and they told him, “No new refinery will be allowed to operate in Nigeria.”
Dangote accused BUA of acting with impunity by breaking the law set out in the National Sugar Policy by selling its goods locally rather than exporting them.
BUA, in a letter to the Honourable Minister of Trade, clarified the situation by stating that the law permits it to sell within Nigeria.
The BUA claimed in an attachment to the authorizing permits and approval that the law allows it to sell locally due to the connivance of the two major sugar manufacturers in raising the price of sugar during Ramadan.
BUA also warned that the DANGOTE group and other major players are not involved in any backward integration projects, instead relying on an allocation of 80 percent raw sugar, which is harmful to the Nigerian economy in the long run.
BUA, on the other hand, has been working on a backward integration project, with the completion of BUA’s Lafiagi Sugar BIP scheduled for 2022.
Over $250 million is thought to have already been invested on the export-oriented BUA sugar refinery, which employs over 1,000 Nigerians.
Meanwhile, BUA has stated that the price war is at the heart of the fight to force FG to shut down the BUA Sugar refinery.
Sugar cost about 18,000 Naira per bag before Ramadan last year. However, as Ramadan approached, the price increased to 30,000 per bag.
People had no choice but to purchase it because they needed a large quantity during the time span. As a result, the manufacturers were laughing all the way to the bank.
The BUA community observed the pattern and agreed that something needed to be done about it. There was no need to raise the price only because demand was high during Ramadan.
The rise usually occurs one month before the fasting begins.
Samad Rabiu declined to cooperate with the other manufacturers when they approached BUA. They placed pressure on him, telling him that now was the best time to make money, but he refused.
After failing to do so, they filed a complaint with the federal government, alleging that he was violating the law by selling sugar locally rather than exporting it.
According to a source, the BUA group has already taken the Trade Minister to court to ensure that the sugar refinery’s operations are not tampered with as a result of Dangote Group’s desperate attempt to monopolize the sugar trade in Nigeria.
See the correspondences Trade Ministry and BUA Group below
