Dangote Sugar Refinery and Flour Mills, have reacted to an allegation by BUA Group, as it relates to making desperate efforts to inflate the commodity price for consumers in the market.
BUA Group, in an advertorial that graced the media space on Monday, February 14, 2022, alleged that as part of the desperate efforts by the two quoted companies, was suspending sales of sugar in the country.
According to the company led by Abdulsamad Rabiu, while Flour Mills suspended sugar sales because the 2022 raw sugar allocation had been declined by the government, Dangote Sugar suspended sales of the product in a bid to create scarcity in a strategic move to inflate the price.
Addressing the investing public, Dangote Sugar falsified the claims, as it stated that “in compliance with the requirements of the Rulebook of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), DSR wishes to strongly refute the allegations and assertions in their entirety as these false allegations may mislead the market and may give an undue competitive edge to BUA.”
Continuing, the firm added that “we believe this behaviour exhibited by BUA is worrisome and appears to conflict with the anti-competition rules. Last year, just before the commencement of Ramadan (the Islamic holy month of fasting), BUA made similar false allegations against the company that it was engaged in ‘price-fixing’ and not honestly pursuing the Backward Integration Project.
“In response to this, we published a press release to refute the false allegations and made a formal complaint to the Anti-Competition Commission. Another formal complaint was made to the commission on February 14, 2022, and we await their actions to address the situation.”
Like Dangote Sugar, Flour Mills maintained that BUA’s assertion was incorrect, as it clarified that it had no outstanding compliance issues with the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC).
“On the contrary, we have been adjudged as the best performing Backward Integration Program,” the company said, adding, “The assertion by BUA Foods on the supposed suspension of sugar sales by FMN based on compliance issues is incorrect and indeed capable of creating a false impression in the market, which is contrary to the interest of consumers.”
