Khaleej Sugar sees output up 40 percent

Dubai's Al Khaleej Sugar Co refinery, the biggest in the Middle East, sees its first-quarter output surging 40 percent on strong global demand, a senior company official said on Tuesday.
Cyrus Raja, Khaleej's corporate affairs general manager, said that preliminary estimates show the company produced 350,000 tonnes of white sugar in the first quarter from 250,000 tonnes in the same period in 2006.
"By the end of March, our output will be 100,000 (tonnes) more than what we produced in the first quarter of 2006," he told Reuters in a telephone interview. The refinery's daily capacity stands at more than 4,800 tonnes. Al Khaleej can hold up to 1.2 million tonnes of raw sugar.
Jamal al-Ghurair, the company's general manager, said last month Khaleej plans to raise its capacity 50 percent to allow for future increases in demand in the Middle East, Asia and East Africa. The cost of the expansion is estimated at about $30 million.