BUA Sugar Refinery Discontinues Credit Facilities to Customers

The management of BUA Sugar Refinery, BSR, has discontinued credit facilities to its customers following the prolonged currency fluctuation and the nation’s sugar industry’s dependence on imported raw sugar.

The company, in statement issued over the weekend in Lagos, said the decision is expected to guard against any currency and transaction risks as well as prevent hedging.

The management of BSR said that whilst the official exchange rate had remained stable, significant currency and transaction risks still exist for customers who collect sugar on credit.

As a result, the company is temporarily discontinuing its credit lines to those customers effective today, January 18, till further notice.

This measure, according to the statement, will however not affect the company’s operations and that sugar deliveries will continue to be made against verified payments.

In a related development, BSR has reiterated its support for the Backward Integration Policy (BIP) of the federal government’s National Sugar Master Plan.

The company said that extensive work is ongoing at its Lafiagi, Kwara State BIP site with over 20,000 hectares and that it has another 50,000 hectares of farmland in Bassa, Kogi State.

“These two operations form the fulcrum of BUA’s backward integration programme for sugar and it will further reduce the country’s dependence on imported raw sugar while supporting the value chain in sugar production within Nigeria,” it said.