The Saudi-based Omega Sugar Refining Company has received an industrial investment license from the nation’s General Investments Authority (SAGIA) to operate a white sugar and molasses refinery in Dammam. Total investments in the project are expected to reach 225 million Saudi riyals ($60 million), reported Al-Hayat.
Saudi traders hope the new license will remove the nation’s only sugar refining plant, Allied Sugar, from its position as market monopoly. The new factory is a Spanish-Canadian joint venture with a target production capacity of 480,000 tons of refined white sugar and 15,000 tones molasses produced for domestic and international markets.
The price of sugar in the Kingdom has risen by 50 percent in recent years due to a governmental decision to subject imports of the good to a 20 percent tariff. Sugar consumption in Saudi Arabia has been steadily increasing over the past few years to over 500,000 tons, of which about half is direct consumption and the other half for industrial use. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
