Egypt’s need of sugar increases annually by 50K tons

CAIRO – 7 October 2018: Egypt’s need of sugar increases annually by 50,000 tons because of the population, Head of Sugar Division at the Federation of Industries Hassan Fendi said.

Fendi clarified that this demand requires the establishment of a complete sugar industry line every three years to produce 150,000 tons annually to fill the current and future gap.

The head of Sugar Division called for deepening the local industry by increasing the cultivation areas of sugar beet to provide locally produced sugar for the food industry such as jam and candy industry, where sugar enters as a basic ingredient.

He also called to support sugar producers to establish productive projects to meet the deficit of white sugar which is estimated at 1 million tons imported from abroad.

Fendi clarified that the sugar market is currently controlled and the prices are reasonable because of the decline of the global prices, adding that the gap in productivity is still in place.

On the other hand, he called for the need to tighten controls on the informal sector which produces non-controlled food, which is a serious danger to human health.

The government imports about 800,000 to 1 million tons of sugar per year to support the deficit in local production. Sugar production from reeds stands at about 1 million tons annually, while its production from beets reached 1.2 million tons and the rest is imported from abroad.