LAST YEAR was the sweetest sugar production year for Mozambique in three decades, according to the annual report published by the National Sugar Institute. A total of 2.2-million tonnes of sugar cane was harvested from a planted area of 31 000-hectares. This produced over 265 000-t of refined sugar and 81 000-t of molasses. This, said Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (AIM) represented an increase of 20% in cane production, 29% in sugar production, and 23% in molasses production. Exports increased in 2005 because Hurricane Katrina and Rita cut US production, the report added, and the EU allocated Mozambique a larger quota at preferential prices because some developing countries had failed to fill their quota.
