NIGERIA – The Golden Sugar Company, a subsidiary of Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN), has reaffirmed its commitment to the development of sugar value chain in Nigeria.

The sugar company said that it will continue to advocate for the sugar value chain in the country in line with the federal government’s backward integration policy regarding the mandatory upstream operations requirement for sugar processing.

Under its food and agro-allied conglomerate, the sugar processor won the 2019 Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) awards in France, and has expressed its commitment to continue aligning its operations with consumers’ satisfaction as its goal.

The Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Maniatis Ioannis John, also noted that the firm will continue to focus on effort and innovations towards creating an environment to promot food safety and continuous improvement.

“We know that sugar is enjoyed by millions of Nigerian families every day, so this is just one of the many initiatives that we have put in place to assure them of our commitment to quality and safe food for all,” he said.

John added that with an installed capacity to process 7,500 metric tonnes of sugar production per annum, the company will leverage on the backward integration programme to promote growth in the sector

However, he highlighted that the sugar industry has been grappling with major challenges especially smuggling of sugar into the country which has significantly slowed down the backward integration programme.

He also noted challenges in exports and falling prices of the commodity saying that the industry must be properly incentivised to stay competitive.

The sugar company started full operations in Nigeria market in 2012 and currently sources100% its materials locally, which has contributed to the economies of local producers, says Mrs. Veronica the company’s Quality Assurance Manager.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Awards identifies major incentives to promote food safety standards and it intends to strengthen the diversity of food safety around the world from Africa, Asia, America and Europe.

The key performance index reveals that GFSI reviewed benchmark for the assessment of food implementation, food defense, food assessment and the dangers of food fraud on consumers and end users.

Golden sugar Company has also managed to acquire a 100 per cent equity in Sunti Golden Sugar Estate Limited (SGSE).