The demand for sugar in the UAE began to increase during the last quarter of 2022 by 3% with domestic consumption estimated to increase to about 250,000 tonnes per year, said Jamal Al Ghurair, Managing Director of the ‘Al Khaleej Sugar company, reports Gulf Today.
UAE imports 95% of raw sugar from Brazil and only 5% of refined sugar from India, he said on the backdrop of the 7th edition of the Dubai Sugar Conference 2023.
“The UAE industry is facing the biggest challenge of dumping by India in a local market as India is supporting its industry while sugar exporters are considering the UAE market a profitable one,” he said.
“Al-Khaleej Sugar is the largest sugar refinery in the world and is operating with a capacity of only 40% of its total capacity of about 1.5 million tonnes annually due to India dumping its sugar in the domestic market,” he said.
“We direct only 20% of sugar produced to the local market while 80% is exported to Gulf countries, East African countries, and several countries in Europe,”, said Al Ghurair.
