25-07-2025
Strategies on sugar - Egypt - Al-Ahram Weekly
Egypt has learned valuable lessons from the sugar crisis of 2023, ensuring adequate supplies of the strategic commodity this year.
Egypt is the second-largest consumer of sugar globally, with per capita consumption reaching 34 kg per year, compared to three kg per person in Europe.
This is why the sugar shortage, which began in November 2023 and spilled over to mid-2024, led the government to declare sugar a strategic commodity and to take stringent measures to prevent its recurrence.
As part of the preparations for the 2024 sugarcane planting season, the government set the procurement price for sugarcane supplied to factories at LE2,500 per ton. The Sugar and Integrated Industries Company, a subsidiary of the Holding Company for Food Industries, announced that all factories were operational for the 2025 season and targeted to purchase six million tons of sugarcane.
The sugarcane planting seasons take place from mid-March to the end of June and from mid-September to the end of November.
Up until 23 February, the Sugar and Integrated Industries Company had received 2,637 million tons of sugarcane, resulting in the production of 275,000 tons of white sugar, said Sherif Farouk, minister of supply and internal trade, in late February.
He noted that the sugar stock covered more than a year, enhancing food security and stabilising market prices.
Somewhere between 320,000 and 350,000 feddans were planted with sugarcane during the past season, said Ayman Hosni, director of the Sugar Crops Institute. For sugar production, Egypt depends on sugar cane and beetroot, planted in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, respectively, and avoiding any overlap in the cultivated areas, Hosni stated.
Farmers grew more interested in planting sugarcane and improving yields following the 2023 shortage. At present, a feddan of sugarcane yields an average of 55 tons, with some areas achieving yields of 70 to 80 tons per feddan, he noted.
Despite meeting local demand, Hosni said that Egypt is unlikely to achieve complete self-sufficiency in sugar due to the increasing population and demand for the commodity from several industries.
He noted that sugar supports 33 related industries such as paper, honey, yeast, alcohol, organic acids, vinegar, plastics, and animal feed. He is confident, however, that the country can reduce the supply gap and ensure price stability.
In 2022, the state ordered the construction of two sugarcane seedling production stations in Aswan's Kom Ombo and Wadi Al-Saayda at a cost of LE470 million, with the second costing LE350 million alone.
One of the stations is undergoing trial production, while the second is still being commissioned. Instructions were given to accelerate the facilities' construction following the 2023 sugar shortage.
Mustafa Selim, a consultant on tissue culture production for sugarcane seedlings who works in Upper Egypt, said that Egypt's sugar factories operate a number of their own farms, which supply part of their needs.
The farms use modern technologies, including greenhouses and organic farming practices, and are equipped with tissue culture seedling production units. The cost of one unit may reach up to LE15 million, but the units are important for the production of high-quality sugarcane strains and higher quantities.
Since 2024, demand for sugar has risen, as has interest among sugarcane farmers due to the increase in the guaranteed price set by the government and lucrative market prices. Demand has also increased on the part of juice producers and molasses and yeast manufacturers, whose products have almost doubled in price.
Unlike state-owned companies, which purchase sugarcane by the ton, private buyers purchase by the feddan. Technologies used in seedling production reduce 30 per cent of production costs and increase yield by 40 per cent, allowing farmers to make attractive profits, Selim explained.
He lauded the government's efforts at addressing the sugar shortage, its early announcement of indicative prices, and its decision to open the market to more industries allowing demand for sugarcane to increase and ensuring its availability in the local market.
He urged the Ministry of Agriculture to incorporate tissue culture laboratories in seedling production stations, given their role in preserving crop varieties and improving productivity. He added that this technology can also be applied to other crops, including vegetables and fruits, whose seedlings could be produced in the same facilities.
While the initial investment is high, the economic return is equally significant, he pointed out.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 24 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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