The Government of Nigeria has banned imports of packaged sugar, granulated and in cubes, beginning January 2013. Nigeria’s Trade and Investment Minister, Dr Olusegun Aganga, said this was in line with the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan which aims at achieving self-sufficiency in the country’s sugar production by 2020.
Imports of machinery for local sugar refineries have recently been made tariff-free and investors in domestic sugar processing also get a five-year tax holiday.
Minister Aganga indicated that the National Sugar Master Plan was designed to increase local sugar production, attain selfsufficiency, reduce dependence on importation as well as create job opportunities and increase prospects of contributing to the production of ethanol.
Currently, more than 90 per cent of all sugar consumed in Nigeria is imported raw, mostly from Brazil, and refined by domestic sugar refineries.
