Dangote, Flour Mills Attack BUA Over Alleged Sugar Sale Suspension

The cold war between Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and BUA Foods Plc has continued to fester to the point of suspending the sale of sugar.

Naija News reports that BUA Foods Plc accused the two companies of suspending the sale of sugar because the 2022 raw sugar allocation had been declined by the government.

In a statement released On Monday, BUA Foods also accused Dangote Sugar of halting sugar sales in a bid to create scarcity and force an increase in prices of the commodity.

But in a statement published on the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday, Dangote Sugar refuted claims by BUA Foods, describing them as false and misleading.

Dangote Sugar stated that in line with its plan, it had continued to supply sugar to meet the market’s demand.

It said, “In compliance with the requirements of the Rulebook of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, 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.”

“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.”

Also reacting in a statement on Thursday, Flour Mills described the claim by BUA as incorrect and indeed capable of creating a false impression in the market.

The company stated that it had no outstanding compliance issues with the National Sugar Development Council and this was confirmed by the council’s latest raw sugar allocation for 2022.

It said: “On the contrary, we have been adjudged as the best performing Backward Integration Program.

“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.”