Swaziland Sugar Output May Rise 12% on Increased Land

Sugar output in Swaziland, Africa’s third-biggest producer of the sweetener, may increase 12 percent this year as more land is put under cultivation by small-scale farmers, the country’s industry board said.

Output may climb to 651,000 metric tons from 582,000 tons last year, and exceed the 605,000 tons produced in 2009, Swaziland Sugar Association Chief Executive Officer Mike Matsebula said in an interview today in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

“It’s mainly because we produced less than projected last year, so we’re starting from a lower base,” he said. “Additionally, land is being brought under cultivation.”

The kingdom of 1.2 million people, bordering South Africa, consumes about 10 percent of the sugar it produces, and exports about half of the rest to fellow Southern Africa Customs Union members South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, and Namibia. The European Union, the U.S., and East Africa buy the balance.

About 11 percent of Swaziland’s foreign exchange earnings are derived from its sugar industry, which employs as much as 18 percent of the country’s workforce, Matsebula said.

Swaziland’s 2010 sugar sales rose to 2.46 billion emalangeni ($355.1 million), from 2.44 billion a year earlier, the Swaziland Sugar Association said in an annual report on Jan. 4.

Swaziland is Africa’s biggest producer of the sweetener after South Africa and Sudan, on a continent that supplies about 7 percent of world output, Peter Baron, executive director of the International Sugar Organization, said in an interview in Nairobi today.

source: bloomberg