In a bid to counteract a sugar dumping setback caused by the European Union (EU), the government of Syria plans to build one of the largest sugar refineries in the world at a cost of $180 million, reported Xinhua. The plant will have a sugar production capacity of one million tons annually and will be jointly contracted by Syrian, Kuwaiti and Brazilian investors.
The EU issued a decree awarding a 200 percent export subsidy to white sugar producers, so that they could sell a single ton at $900 at home as opposed to exporting sugar for $300 per ton. At the same time, the EU imposed a 122 percent tariff on white sugar imports.
Syria has six state-owned sugar plants which produce approximately 100,000 tons of product annually from locally grown processed sugar beets and about 100,00 tons of sugar from imported raw sugar. The plants are managed by the General Organization for Sugar (GOFS), a subsidiary of Syria’s Ministry of Industry. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
