 Mauritius among the ten top exporters of Sugar |
One of the pillars of the Mauritian economy is the sugar industry and
agriculture. The Republic of Mauritius is among the top ten largest exporters of sugar in
the world. It is certain that the Sugar Protocol will be maintained and that Mauritius
will benefit from a strong quota allocation. Mauritius is playing a leading role, within
the ACP group, in the discussion with the EU for the renewal of the Lomé Convention and
is closely monitoring the situation.
Mr
Arvin Boolell, Minister of Agriculture, Food Technology & Natural Resourcessaid « On the issue of sugar we have a select working Group looking at the different
scenario on the future ACP/EU relations. Our Deputy Prime Minister is a spokesman on
Trade. We are monitoring the situation very closely. We are not adverse to change but
there should not be violent change, there should not be violent disruption of the system.
Where there is a level-playing field we are willing to play the game but at the same time,
we are highlighting the vulnerability of island economies, of small economies.»
Mauritius is also increasing its production of Refine Sugar, especially
at the Belle Vue Sugar Factory, as there is a new trend in Europe for the consumption of
Refine Sugars. On that issue, Mr Cyril Mayer,
president of the Harel Group says: «
we were in the 70’ the tinniest producers of the island, with this process of
refining sugar, we have now seven different types of sugar and we manufacture about 45 000
tons which are export oriented» In addition, the sugar industry continues a derocking
scheme in order to have more arable lands together with a program of mechanisation in
order to increase production. On the other hand, the government has stopped tea plantation
and the land is being used for sugar cane. Tea plantation is now solely under the
administration of the private tea sector. | The use of Bagasse, which is a by-product of Sugar cane, in the
production of electricity as a fuel is considered to be a big success. Talking about this
issue for the Harel Group, Mr Cyril Mayer says: « we intend to invest jointly with Beau
Plan and the Mount in a coal and bagasse thermal plant of 70 MW. It is projected to start
its operation in year 2000 at Belle Vue. The power station will be operating on bagasse
during the crop season and using coal after the crop season. This is a 100 million-dollar
project.»
In order to increase productivity while reducing the cost
of production, the sugar industry has launched itself into a determined programme of
rationalisation of the Sugar Cane factories through a process of centralisation. More are
to come in the years ahead as government is in favour of centralisation as long as this is
done without infringement of the rights of the employees and the individual planters.
On the other hand various sugar companies in Mauritius, due to their
great and long experience in that field, are negotiating with various African countries to
rebuild abandoned Sugar Mills together with the rehabilitation of existing plantations.
This is a new venture that will give opportunities to mechanical workers and senior and
middle management to use their experience in these countries.
Commenting on the mauritian sugar industry as a whole, Mr Rajpati, Executive Director of the Mauritius Sugar
Authority, says that «investment opportunities exist in the production of
energy with bagasse in the next decade and there is a niche in all that is high technology
and like Singapore we wish to start the production of tissue culture plant and in turn to
export these to new markets. Countries like Madagascar and Mozambique represent investment
opportunities in terms of agriculture and warehouses. |
