The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) of Nigeria on August 11, 2025 charged four companies with 400,000 tonnes of processed sugars to undercut imports.
Nigeria imports 1.4 million tonnes of the agro-commodity annually, as of 2023, 60 times its current production capacity.
To offset dependence, the NSDC is ramping up domestic production, beginning with an August 5 sugar roadmap – and now this latest deal.
The deal allows four firms to develop four cane belt factories and each produce 100,000 tonnes of the sweetener annually.
Operations will include Brent Sugar in the southwestern state of Oyo and Legacy Sugar in the northwestern state of Adamawa.
Two more mills in the country’s northeast will further help equate production distribution across Nigeria’s vast geographical span.
Successful operations will bring the total refined sugar output to nearly 450,000 tonnes or a third of current imports.
Furthermore, the NSDC is investing $1-billion in the construction of around 5 mills by a contractor from China.
The mills will help consummate the national designation of 2025 as the year of “accelerated development” for the sensitive sweeteners sector.
This sensitiveness is gaining in tandem with growing sugar intake countrywide, which rose to 1.6 million tonnes in 2021.
So, Nigeria is battling sugar demons holistically to boost production and cut imports. This at a time when the FAO Price Index ironically indicates price depreciation in both June and July 2025 from a global surplus. A look at the statistics below explains Nigeria’s opposite trend and how it is revamping production.
Nigeria Sugars Processing Statistics
Despite consuming 1/3rd or $2 billion of Africa’s total sugar intake per year, Nigeria struggles in processing sufficient quantities. Against demand at 1.6 million a year (2021), the country produces barely a trickle at 34,150 tonnes (2021). The below data, interpreted from the FAOSTAT, illustrates yearly production in the 2019-23 period.
| Year | Processed Volume [tonnes] |
| 2022 | 20,000 [unofficial] |
| 2021 | 34,150 [unofficial] |
| 2020 | 17,800 [unofficial] |
| 2019 | 20,900 [unofficial] |
How does Nigeria aim to boost sugar processing?
Beginning September 2022, Nigeria was targeting an annual production at 1.7-1.8 million tonnes a year, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This was a vision of the National Sugar Master Plan, which the country extended 10 years more in 2022.
How high is the daily capacity for cane milling in Nigeria?
Cane milling in Nigeria averages 10,000 tonnes a day, while sugar refining reaches 220,000 tonnes a year.