Morocco's first sugar refinery Cosumar to kick off production in its Saudi Arabia's plant by March 2020, the firm's CEO told Reuters on Monday. The plant called Durrah and located in Yanbu, a port city on the Red Sea coast of western Saudi Arabia, is 43.27% owned by Cosumar. The refinery was created as «a joint venture with Saudi Consolidated Brothers and Industrial Project Development Company, Wilmar», the British news agency explained. Cosumar's CEO Mohammed Fikrat announced earlier this year that the new refinery will be able to produce 850,000 tons of refined sugar by the end of the 2019. However, production was delayed. Cosumar's refined sugar will be «commercialized» and sold in Saudi Arabia, the same source said. According to the British news agency, Cosumar's plant in Casablanca provide the Moroccan market with 100 percent of its refined sugar needs. Meanwhile, the plant exports 400,000 tons to 40 countries in Africa and in the MENA region. «Exports represent between 20 to 25 percent of our turnover», Fikrat said, adding that Cosumar imports half of its raw sugar needs from Brazil and produces the rest locally. For the record, Cosumar is the oldest sugar refinery in Morocco. It was created in 1929 in the Roches Noires district of Casablanca.
