Egypt suspends white sugar imports for another 3 months

CAIRO – 8 September 2020: Minister of Industry and Trade Nevine Gamea issued Tuesday a decree suspending white sugar imports for another three months.

The decree exempts quantities that enter in drug manufacturing and that are approved by the Ministry of Health and Population. For crude sugar imports, only shipments approved by both the ministry and the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade are allowed in the country.

The decision is aimed at protecting the national industry given sugar prices have declined globally after oil prices had been sent to dive. Local producers are expected to sell their stocks standing at 1.4 million over more than six months.

Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali el-Moselhi said in June that the strategic reserve of sugar is sufficient for eight months.
 

During his meeting with the Higher Committee of Sugar, He added that the average sugar consumption ranges between 230,000 to 240,000 tons per month.
 

Moselhi called sugar companies to estimate the gap between the expected domestic production and consumption in the coming period in order to take necessary measures to import the remaining quantity.
 

According to official data issued earlier by the Ministry of Supply, Egypt's consumption of sugar is 3.2 million tons, of which 2.3 million tons are domestically produced.
 

In October, Head of Sugar Division at the Federation of Industries Hassan Fendi said that Egypt’s need of sugar increases annually by 50,000 tons because of the population.
 

Fendi clarified that this demand requires the establishment of a complete sugar industry line every 3 years to produce 150,000 tons annually to fill the current and future gap.
 

The government imports about 800,000 to 1 million tons of sugar per year to bridge the gap between consumption and 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.