Nigerians are becoming more health-conscious and are opting for natural sweeteners, which have seen the nation’s sugar consumption decline steadily in the last two years, experts say.
According to BusinessDay analysis of the sugar data from the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment responsible for the regulation of all activities in the sugar sub-sector, sugar consumption declined by 3.8 percent to 1.25 million tonnes in 2018, from 1.3 million tonnes in 2017, after it had dropped by 16.6 percent from 1.56 million tonnes in 2016.
“The increasing health awareness has made people opt for more organic or natural products. People are now going for healthier sugar substitutes like honey,” Ayorinde Akinloye, a consumer goods analyst at Lagos-based CSL Stockbrokers, said.
“And also corporate organisations are cutting back on their sugar cost,” Mogaji added.
Earlier this year, a report by Euromonitor International, the world’s leading independent provider of global strategic intelligence on industries, countries and consumers, said producers of carbonated drinks may be challenged by the emerging health and wellness trend of consumers as they may shift to low sugar juice as an apparent healthier alternative.
“The juice manufacturers are set to derive further benefit from this trend over the forecast period and this development is supported by growing concerns over the health risks associated with high sugar consumption,” the report said.
Health experts believe that sugar consumption is a major cause of obesity and many chronic diseases, such as diabetes.
Also, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends, in both adults and children, a reduced intake of free sugar (monosaccharides and disaccharides) added to foods and beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumers throughout the life course.
The importation of sugar reduced to 1.23 million tonnes in 2018 from 1.56 million tonnes in 2016, while production increased to 30,000 tonnes in 2018 from 25,000 tonnes in 2016, according to the NSDC data.
But analysts say they are doubtful of these figures.
“I doubt the accuracy of their data because Dangote Sugar Refinery plc, the largest producer of sugar in Nigeria, produced 671,893 tonnes in 2017 and 577,160 in 2018,” Akinloye said.
According to a document from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2018, Nigeria relied on about 1.6 million tonnes of raw sugar coming from its major suppliers (i.e., Brazil, Thailand and the United States). This figure contradicts the 1.23 million tonnes import figures for 2018 quoted by NSDC.
Nigeria imports about 80 percent of raw sugar from Brazil.
This year, the three major sugar producers or refineries in Nigeria – Dangote Sugar Refinery plc, a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited; Golden Penny Sugar, a subsidiary of Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN); and BUA Sugar Refinery Limited – complained that the high rate of smuggling of cheap unlicensed sugar into the country affected their sales revenue in 2018.
BUNMI BAILEY
