The Executive Secretary, National Sugar Development Council, Dr Latif Busari, has said that reduced importation of sugar and increase in local production will save the country $56m in foreign exchange annually.

He said this when he led the management of the agency to brief the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Richard Adebayo, on the activities of the agency.

Busari, according to a statement from the ministry on Thursday, said the sugar policy had led to job creation and industrialisation.

He said that part of the plan was to create 114,000 jobs and produce 1.7 million tonnes of sugar annually.

He listed Dangote Sugar Industry, BUA International Group and Golden Sugar Company as the three major operators in the industry, accounting for about 99.8 per cent of sugar in current use in the country.

The minister expressed commitment of the government to render more support to investors and other key players in the nation’s sugar industry.

He said this would assist the country to achieve sufficient industrial and domestic use of the commodity.