Cairo– Between the official optimism of achieving self -sufficiency in sugar and a reality indicating a chronic production gap and relying on import for many years, the sugar sector in Egypt stands in front of a crossroads in an attempt to overcome repeated deficiency crises.
At a time when the Sugar Crops Council at the Ministry of Agriculture announced that local production exceeded the barrier of 3 million tons during 2025, other data raises questions about the realism and sustainability of this scenario.
Sugar is one of the basic commodities listed on the ration cards in Egypt, along with rice and oil, and the number of catering cards is about 22 million cards, which benefits about 63 million citizens.
Egypt is one of the highest countries consuming sugar, and according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the individual in Egypt consumes 51.4 kilograms of sugar, which is nearly twice the consumption of the global average of the individual.
Standard production and self -sufficiency
In reference to a major shift in the sugar production sector, Egypt will witness a record production of 3.12 million tons of sugar for the first time in its history, distributed between 2.5 million tons of sugar beets and 620 thousand tons of sugar cane.
This ends years of Egypt’s dependence on foreign markets, and the country enters a new stage of enhancing its food security in this strategic product, according to the Sugar Crops Council.
Earlier, the Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Sharif Farouk, confirmed that Egypt has achieved a 100%self -sufficiency rate, which enhances the stability of the local market and achieves balance in the availability of basic commodities.
password
The head of the Sugar Crops Council, Mustafa Abdel -Gawad, said that “the password in achieving self -sufficiency is to raise the price of beet supply (beets) and sugar cane and encourage farmers to cultivate it and increase the productivity of acres,” noting that there is a self -sufficiency of sugar production this year, and that Egypt will not need to import sugar from abroad starting from next year.
He explained – in statements to Al -Jazeera Net – that with the determination of the price of supplying a ton of sugar cane at 2500 pounds (49.18 dollars), a home of sugar beets by 3 thousand pounds (59.02 dollars), the land area designated for sugar beet cultivation increased to exceed 780 thousand acres this year, compared to about 600 thousand acres last year.
Egypt has not achieved a complete self -sugar sufficiency for decades with its own 16 factories for its production, and it depends on importing to cover the gap, and it imported about one million tons in 2024, which is a record number due to the deficiency crisis, and to some facts:
- Local production is sufficient between 70% and 80% of the consumption volume.
- Egypt produces between 2.6 and 2.8 million tons of sugar annually and consumes between 3.3 and 3.5 million tons.
- Egypt suffers from a gap in sugar production, ranging between 400 thousand tons and 800 thousand tons annually.
- The price of a kilo of sugar jumped about 7 times in the last 10 years.
- Egypt imposes a period of prohibition of exporting sugar for a period of 6 months and renewed.
- The strategic reserve of sugar has increased to more than 12 months.
Multiple crises
Egypt witnessed several crises in the sugar commodity, the last of which was in 2024, which led to its disappearance and its price doubled from about 18 pounds ($ 0.35) per kilo to 55 pounds (1.08 dollars) amid a severe decrease in dollars and the production declined before it declined to 33 pounds (0.65 dollars).
Optimism and memorization
There is a noticeable spacing between the Egyptian government’s statements and the expectations of the US Department of Agriculture regarding the sugar sector. The latter expects production of 2.6 million tons and consumption of 3.75 million tons.
The head of the Sugar Crops Council at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mustafa Abdel -Gawad, explained this disparity that the US Department of Agriculture did not take into account the developments of increasing the prices of the supply of beets and sugar cane, and increasing the area of agricultural land with sugary crops.
The Egyptian official expected that Egypt’s production of sugar would rise to 3.5 million tons next year 2026.
“Sweetness” for the consumer or for the product only?
The head of the Sugar Division of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Hassan Al -Fandi, described Egypt’s achievement of self -sufficiency as “a great achievement, and all parties benefit from it, whether the state, the consumer, or the owners of food factories, and a golden opportunity for national industries in securing one of the strategic crops and production materials in the food industries.”
He pointed out – in an interview with Al -Jazeera Net – that Egypt’s embrace is one of the largest sugar production factories in the region, which is the Canal Sugar Factory in Minya in Upper Egypt (70% for an Emirati company and 30% of the National Governmental Bank) helps to bridge the gap in the event of work at full capacity, pointing out that the volume of the gap revolves around 400 thousand tons annually.
Although Al -Fandi ruled out that self -sufficiency reduces the prices of sugar, he stressed that the increase in production will achieve an abundance of the strategic commodity and will eliminate the crisis of deficiency that has emerged during the past periods, and therefore there will be stability in the markets and in the food industries associated with sugar, which provides important and necessary calories for citizens.
Within the framework of the Egyptian government’s efforts to develop the sugar industry, it is working to develop the agricultural side by assigning research centers to develop seeds (seeds) and seedlings, and to activate the role of the Sugar Crops Council to serve farmers, especially sugar cane farmers, through guidance and improving agriculture and irrigation to increase production.
