Sugar production in Mozambique could grow from 1.6 million to 1.9 million tonnes in the 2024-25 agricultural campaign, representing a 10% increase on the previous campaign. This positive trend contrasts with the challenges faced in the sector in recent years, as reported by the newspaper Noticias.
The information was released by the Agriculture sector during the official launch of the agricultural campaign, held in the district of Xinavane, in Maputo province, in the south of the country.
In the last two years, the sugar sub-sector has been heavily affected by natural disasters, particularly floods, which have had a negative impact on agricultural yields in both family and industrial production fields. These adversities even led to the temporary closure of the Maragra sugar mill. Despite this, the outlook for the subsector in 2024-25 is optimistic.
Data from the sector indicates that the sub-sector is currently responsible for producing around 2.7 million tonnes of sugar cane and 220,000 tonnes of sugar. This amount is enough to supply domestic consumption, while allowing for the export of approximately 15 per cent of production. The sugar units in operation support more than a thousand direct jobs throughout the country.
However, the effects of the 2022 cyclone caused a significant reduction in production, which fell from 2.7 million to 1.6 million tonnes of sugar cane. Even with this disruption, the sub-sector has managed to guarantee domestic supply and price stability on the national market, according to the agricultural authorities.
Over the last ten years, average sugar production in Mozambique has been around 350,000 tonnes a year, in a context where the country only consumes around half of this amount, which means that less than 50% of the sugar produced is actually used on the domestic market.
In addition to the sugar sector, the authorities expect growth of more than 5 per cent in cereal production. Cereal production, especially maize, is expected to exceed three million tonnes in the 2024-25 marketing year.
