The Company is a leading producer of sugar in West Africa, through the processing and refining of raw sugar.
The Sugar Division comprises the plantation and refinery segments operating across the value chain of the sugar industry, including the production, milling, processing, and refining of sugar and its by-products such as bagasse, molasses, and mud cakes. The Company has two plantations in Lafiagi, Kwara State, and Bassa, Kogi State as well as two sugar refineries in Apapa, Lagos State, and Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Sugar Refining
Established in 2005, the Sugar Division of BUA Foods Plc has two ultramodern and automated sugar refineries in Apapa, Lagos and Port Harcourt that utilise state-of-the-art equipment to refine high-quality products for industrial uses.
The sugar refineries have a total combined installed refining capacity of 1.5 million MT, making the Company the second-largest refiner in West Africa. In 2019, BUA Sugar completed the installation of the Eastern Sugar Refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State is the only sugar refinery in Nigeria located outside of Lagos State and is uniquely positioned to cater to the West African coastal market.
The sugar refineries transform raw sugar into crystalline white granulated sugar, which is utilised by manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, bakeries and confectionaries, food, beverages, and dairy products etc.
BUA Foods is committed to providing high-quality sugar to the West African market, with a consistent track of between 45 – 60 ICUMSA (International Commission for Uniform Method of Sugar Analysis), indicating a high efficiency of colour removal techniques. This makes the final product as close to natural as possible.
Sugar Plantations
Further to the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Sugar Master Plan, which incentivises local sugar production, and in response to the Nigerian Government backward integration policy in the sugar industry, the Company invested in sugar estates within Nigeria to deepen local sugar production, through the development of the LASUCO Sugar Company Limited (“LASUCO”) plantation in Lafiagi, Kwara State and the establishment of the Bassa Sugar Company in Kogi State.
BUA Sugar (now BUA Foods) acquired LASUCO in 2008 and acquired the Bassa Sugar plantation in Kogi State in 2013. Together BUA Foods has about 70,000 hectares of land in both locations to set up large-scale sugar plantations. Once operational, the Company expects that these plantations will significantly improve the development of Nigeria’s local sugar industry, enhance its competitive position, reduce its reliance on the importation of raw sugar, bolster its revenue growth, and ensure cost efficiencies from the operation of the sugar plantations.
LASUCO Sugar Company Limited is a 20,000-hectare sugar cane plantation with a crushing capacity of 10,000 MT of cane per day sugar mill and 220,000 MT annual capacity refinery which the Company expects to commission.
In addition, the Company expects the refinery to generate a total volume of 20 million litres of ethanol per annum, while 32 megawatts of electricity will be generated from bagasse, a by-product of sugar cane. Once operational, the Company expects that LASUCO would be the largest integrated sugar factory in West Africa. The LASUCO plantation is designed to supply a large part of Nigeria’s sugar consumption and the Company expects to support farmers through an out-grower scheme to increase sugar cane production and provide a springboard for the company to further expand its local sugar production. The Bassa plantation, located in Bassa, Kogi State, is 50,000 hectares of prime land which is suitable for sugar cane plantation. The produce from the plantation is expected to ultimately provide stock feed for the refineries in Apapa and Port Harcourt.
Sugar Product Portfolio
The product portfolio of the Sugar Division is categorised based on final additives and customer segmentation.
Based on final additives, BUA Foods offers premium refined sugar in 50kg laminated biaxially-oriented polypropylene bags in two categories:
- Non-Fortified Sugar for corporate customers – This is a brand of BUA Sugar that is not fortified with Vitamin A and is used typical for industrial consumption and approved by the Standards Organization of Nigeria (“SON”).
- Fortified Sugar for corporate and trade market customers – This brand is fortified with Vitamin A, in accordance with the UNICEF requirement and is approved by SON. It is used typically for domestic consumption.
