The Federal Government has told BUA Foods Plc, a subsidiary of BUA Group, that it lied when it said companies in the country were suspending sugar production to create scarcity.
The Federal Government’s position was disclosed by the Executive Secretary, National Sugar Development Council, Zacch Adedeji.
Adedeji said there was no reduction in the production of sugar and therefore scarcity was unlikely.
The Executive Secretary, who spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of the approved 2022 presidential raw sugar quota allocations to representatives of refineries in the sector, warned BUA not to raise such false alarm in the future.
He said: “Only yesterday, the attention of the Council was drawn to a publication in some sections of the media credited to BUA Foods on the suspension of sugar sales.
“Given the strategic importance of the sugar value chain to the Nigerian economy, the Council wishes to state that there is no known stoppage in sugar production by any of the operators as a result of compliance issues or on the Council’s mandate.”
BUA Foods Plc had published an advert on Monday accusing Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc of suspending sugar sales because the 2022 raw sugar allocation had been declined by the government.
Flour Mills reacted swiftly to the claim, dismissing it in its entirety.
BUA had also falsely claimed that Dangote Sugar had halted sale of the product in a bid to create scarcity and force prices to go up.