Mauritius seas 530,000 tonnes sugar output

03 Jun, 2006

Sugar production in Mauritius is expected to reach 530,000 tonnes this year, up a marginal 2 percent from last year's 519,816 tonnes, a sugar industry group said on Friday.
The Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture said that output would increase despite adverse effects of excessive rainfall in the first three months of the year.
"Climactic conditions in April permitted a remarkable rate of growth, superior to normal," the chamber said.
But it added that rainfall shortfall in May had led the group to revise their projections.
"A shortage of rains by 30 percent than normal in May has lowered our forecast for the harvest."
Latest European Union (EU) figures show Mauritius has an annual quota of just over 491,000 tonnes of sugar it can export to the EU, earning it 10 billion rupees ($323.1 million) each year under the Sugar Protocol signed with 18 African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
The total ACP quota is 1.31 million tonnes.

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