Sugar imports into the Middle East will equal 8.45 million tons by 2010, representing an increase of 33 percent from the 6.37 million tons imported in 1999, according to Tony Hannah, head of the International Sugar Organization.
Hannah was speaking at a conference titled "The Role of the Arab Region in the World Sugar Economy," which was held in Luxor, Egypt. Hannah based his forecast on an expected three percent average growth in sugar imports to the Arab countries of the Middle East.
The Middle East accounted for about 20 percent of the total world sugar imports in 1999. Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Mauritania are the region’s largest consumers on a per capita basis, Hannah said.
In the 1990s, the construction of sugar refineries in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Oman, turned the Gulf into the region showing highest growth, with imports rising by an average 9.1 percent per annum.
The largest sugar refinery in the region is in Dubai. With a capacity of 750,000 tons a year, it largely has displaced white sugar supplies from the European Union. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
