Tea and coffee drinkers risk paying higher prices for sugar due to merger of two of the country’s biggest producers

Tea and coffee consumers risk paying higher prices for sugar due to the merger of two of the country’s largest producers, regulators have warned.

Tate & Lyle owner T&L Sugars (TLS) announced plans to buy Whitworths late last year.

But the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) yesterday threatened to block the deal for fear it would drive up sugar prices.

He said TLS’s acquisition of part of the co-operative conglomerate Tereos, which owns Whitworths, may “lead to a substantial lessening of competition” and gave the companies five working days to offer a solution.

TLS refines and distributes sugar and similar products to supermarkets, wholesalers, hotels and cafes in the United Kingdom.

The Tereos party plans to purchase packages and distribute sugar to UK buyers. The CMA said the only other competitor supplying packaged sugar is British Sugar, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods, which also owns Primark.

Supermarkets could end up paying more for sugar, which could increase on-shelf prices for customers, he said.