Morocco: The sugar industry is affected by drought despite government efforts

The cultivation of sugar beet and sugar cane requires between 600 and 1000 mm of water per year. Sugar consumption in Morocco continues to rise, but the growth of the sugar industry has come to a halt, making the country dependent on imports. The government has introduced a more advantageous tariff schedule for sugar plants to reverse this trend, but this may not be enough to improve the performance of the sector, which suffers from water scarcity. Sugar industry professionals hope that this measure will help stabilize the performance of the sector, which provides 10 million working days a year. The government has decided to increase the selling prices of sugar beet by 80 DH/t (550 DH/ton) and sugar cane by 70 DH/t, with the aim of encouraging an increase in the cultivated area and a decline in sugar imports. Currently, national sugar consumption is estimated at more than one million tons per year and is increasing by 1.8%. However, local production covers only 49% of consumption, ...