Sugar crop production rises 320k tonnes y-o-y to hit record levels

Egypt produces a record 2.48 mn tonnes of sugar crop this season, marking an increase of some 320,500 tonnes y-o-y, Agriculture Minister Ezz El-Din Abu Steit said in a statement on Monday. Around 248,200 feddans of sugar cane were cultivated, while 584,580 feddans of sugar beet were cultivated. The average output from each feddan of sugar cane also increased to 34.8 tonnes from 33.8, Ahram Online reports. This comes in the wake of news that the cultivated area of sugar beet could fall between 33-50% in 2020 as a result of fuel price hikes and challenging market conditions, we noted last week.