MAURITIUS: 2009 sugar production up 3% but missed forecasts
Published: 03/10/2010, 11:35:20 AM
Sugar output in Mauritius grew by 3.3% to 467,234 metric tonnes in 2009 but bad weather meant it missed initial forecasts, according to Reuters.
"Although 2009 sugar output is better than 2008, it is lower than initial forecasts of 475,000 tonnes because sugarcane plantations have been affected by poor weather conditions towards the end of 2009," said Jocelyn Kwok, the Chamber of Agriculture secretary general.
Jacques d'Unienville, chief executive of Omnicane, a leading Mauritian sugar producer, told Reuters the company's new MUR6.3 billion (US$206 million) factory produced 150,000 tonnes of raw sugar in 2009.
Omnicane's factory produces sugar, energy and ethanol. It plans to invest a further MUR3.4 billion rupees during the next three years.
Hit by see-sawing global energy prices, the import dependent island aims to produce 40% of its electricity from renewable energy sources within a decade.
In 2008, 19% of Mauritius' power came from burning bagasse, the waste generated when crushing sugar cane, giving it one of the world's highest ratios of renewable energy.
Omnicane said it had produced around 25% of the Indian Ocean island's total energy consumption in 2009 compared to 23% in 2008.