Harel Freres Planning Record Sugar Production in Mauritius

Harel Freres Ltd. (HFRERES), a Port Louis, Mauritius-based sugar producer, will have a record 85,000 metric tons of specialty sugar production this year because of beneficial weather, according to Jean Arthur Pilot-Lagesse, general manager of the company’s sugar division.

Production will rise 15 percent, Pilot-Lagesse said today in Belle Vue, north of the capital in Port Louis. The crop has recovered after drought, he said in an interview. The Indian Ocean island nation had drought from October to January, according to the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute.

Sugar cane is the country’s main crop, making up about 80 percent of land under cultivation, according to the Chamber of Agriculture. Output in 2011 is forecast at 420,000 tons, the chamber said on June 8.

The Belle Vue factory is the world largest producer of specialty sugars, including muscovado and demerara.

“We will also buy between 10,000 to 12,000 tons from local producers to be transformed in specialty sugars in our factory,” Pilot-Lagesse said.

source: bloomberg