BUA Foods Commits To Sugar Self-sufficiency With Backward Integration Project

BUA Foods Plc has reaffirmed its committedness to the Backward Integration Project (BIP) successful the sweetener sector, aligning with the national government’s extended Sugar Master Plan 2.0.

The task aims to execute self-sufficiency successful sweetener production, reducing Nigeria’s reliance connected imported sugar. This is arsenic the shareholders approved the dividend outgo of N13 per share.

The president of BUA Foods Abdul Samad Rabiu stated this astatine the Company Annual General Meeting (AGM) held successful Abuja.

Speaking to shareholders, Rabiu stated that “the twelvemonth 2024 was marked by important planetary and home challenges, driven by assorted macroeconomic headwinds. Despite these hurdles, we remained steadfast successful our operations and achieved notable advancement connected cardinal strategical initiatives.”

He noted that “our strategical accent connected capableness expansion, marketplace penetration, and merchandise innovation has delivered singular results. In 2024, we committed to further expanding our wheat milling and pasta accumulation capacities to code nutrient proviso challenges and beforehand nutrient security.”

By December 2024, BUA Foods closed the twelvemonth with a marketplace capitalisation of N7.47 trillion, up from N3.48 trillion successful 2023, indicating a singular 115 per cent growth. Its stock terms accrued to N415 from the archetypal listing terms of N40 per share.

BUA Foods closed the twelvemonth with a gross milestone of N1.53 trillion, an summation of 109 per cent comparative to its 2023 performance, portion nett for the play grew to N265.9 cardinal contempt rising input costs and overseas speech losses.

Rabiu disclosed that “in 2025, we stay committed to accelerating the completion of our Backward Integration Project (BIP), aligned with the national government’s extended Sugar Master Plan 2.0, which aims to execute self-sufficiency successful the sweetener sector.

“In 2024, we expanded our sugarcane plantations, adding much hectares crossed our integrated sites successful cardinal cultivation zones. Building connected our assemblage concern successful the Paddy Rice Project which commenced successful 2023, we proceed to code captious challenges successful Nigeria’s atom accumulation industry.

“By boosting section output, empowering farmers, and promoting sustainable cultivation practices, this inaugural supports nutrient security, economical growth, and biology sustainability.”

He noted that “to enactment our maturation ambitions, we planned a important capableness enlargement for our flour division. Following a signed statement with a starring flour milling instrumentality manufacturer, we are acceptable to physique 4 state-of-the-art wheat milling factories. This enlargement volition boost our milling capableness from the existent 1.5 cardinal metric tonnes per annum (MTpa) to an awesome 2.5 cardinal MTpa.”

BUA president added that “upon completion, this task volition not lone fortify our manufacturing beingness and reenforce our marketplace enactment but volition besides make caller occupation opportunities, contributing positively to the economy.”

Also, the managing manager of BUA Food, Ayodele Abioye pointed retired that “the Sugar Backward Integration Programme (BIP) remains a halfway constituent of our semipermanent strategy to execute self-sufficiency successful earthy sweetener supply, heighten proviso concatenation resilience, and enactment Nigeria’s National Sugar Development Agenda.”

In 2025, Abioye said that “we volition support our absorption connected merchandise innovation to deepen marketplace penetration, portion strengthening our superior and secondary organisation channels to beforehand affordable pricing to our consumers.”