Mozambique: Huge Increase in Sugar Production Forecast

Maputo — The Mozambican sugar industry expects to produce over 419,000 tonnes of sugar this year, an increase of 68 per cent on the 2008 figure of 250,191 tonnes.

According to the government's Agricultural Promotion Centre (CEPAGRI), this increase results from a forecast 37 per cent increase in the area under sugar cane cultivation, and a predicted increase of 21 per cent in average yield. All four sugar plantations, except for Marromeu, on the south bank of the Zambezi, plan to increase their cultivated area this year.

The expansion is the result of the implementation, as from 2008, of a sugar sector Plan of Action.

The largest production is expected from the Xinavane plantation and mill, in Maputo province. The forecast here is for production of 171,376 tonnes of sugar from cane grown on 13,649 hectares.

Mafambisse, in the central province of Sofala, expects to produce 89,655 tonnes from a harvested area of 8,342 hectares. Maragra, also in Maputo province, expects to produce 84,500 tonnes from 7,436 hectares, while the Marromeu forecast is for 73,667 tonnes from a planted area of 11,336 hectares.

But while in Mozambique the trend is for a rise in sugar production, internationally there is expected to be a decline, for the first time since the 2004-05 agricultural year.

Consumption is still rising, with a forecast of a rise in sugar consumption this year of 2.53 per cent. The initial estimate of the world sugar balance for the period October 2008 to September 2009 envisages a deficit of 3.6 million tonnes, which could result in an increase in sugar prices.

Two countries, Brazil and India, dominate the international sugar trade. But India is forecasting a drop in production and export of five million tonnes this year.

SOURCE: allafrica