|
|
INTRODUCTION
With the approval of the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) by Federal Government, importation of all kinds of sugar shall be based on the issuance of annual import permit. All sugar importation shall be approved by the President on the recommendation of the Honourable Minister of Trade and Investment. Any sugar consignment imported without Presidential approval, shall be classified as contraband and be confiscated by the Nigeria Customs Service.
Furthermore, all raw sugar imports, from whatever country of origin shall attract the appropriate tariff as approved for existing Refineries. All major industrial users of refined sugar as raw material are required to source their requirement from within, but if for justifiable reasons such requirement is to be met through importation, they will be required to submit their projected sugar requirement for 3 – 5 years ahead and comply with other relevant refined sugar importation guidelines.
It should however be noted that Importation of sugar in retail packs is banned but all local sugar packaging and cubing companies are expected to source their refined sugar needs from within and may only be allowed to import refined sugar upon presentation of evidence of full compliance with NSMP BIP Implementation time-lines for Start-ups.
2.0 GUIDELINES
For the avoidance of doubt, Refineries importing raw sugar for their operations are required to comply with the following:
- Companies wishing to import have to formally apply for the quantity of the raw sugar required.
- Sugar import approvals are valid for one year only and are not transferable.
- Companies granted approval to import sugar must commence or already have investment in Backward Integration Programme (BIP) on local sugar production. To this end, a realistic work-plan with time-lines on their BIP should be submitted to NSDC along with the application.
- No Refinery operating on imported raw sugar is allowed to expand its capacity WITHOUT government approval, effective 1st January, 2013.
- A body comprising of SURMIC Monitoring Unit and Local Sugar Manufacturers are to jointly monitor and evaluate compliance with these guidelines and recommend revocation of approvals given to defaulting importers.
- Recommendations on Import quota allocation to Refineries shall be through a transparent process involving the applicants.
3.0 INFORMATION TO BE SUBMITTED WITH THE APPLICATION
- Capacity utilization for the past 5 years where applicable
- Projected capacity utilization for the next five (5) years
- End of year stock in the last five (5) years
- Countr(ies) of source of raw sugar imports
- Evidence of compliance with the Companies’ Registration Act
- Tax clearance certificate for the last 3 years
- Evidence of registration with PENCOM
- Any other documents that may be relevant to the application
|
