US $200m pier and grain terminal is set to be constructed in Egypt’s port city of Damietta. The new terminal will have a capacity to discharge 3,000 tonnes of grains per hour according to Islam Salem, CEO of Canal Sugar.
While addressing a press conference Mr. Salem said they are finalizing a contract with the government for the pier and grain terminal and that they will be through with the process by the end of the year as they aim to break ground for the project in 2020.
Additionally, the project will be partially self-financed while the remaining funds will be sourced from infrastructure financing institutions. However, Mr. Salem declined to give the facility’s exact storage capacity saying that the designs, scope of work and more details will be given on a later date.
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Largest beet sugar plant in Egypt
Canal Sugar is also planning to establish the largest beet sugar plant in the world at Western Minya in Egypt producing 900,000 t/y at an estimated cost of US $1 billion.
Moreover, Canal signed a US $169m financing agreement to purchase, operate and construct the west Minya project until the US $700m loan is fully settled.
The Minya project also aims to reclaim about 187,850 acres of desert land to use it for production of 2 million tonnes of beet sugar annually as well as growing other strategic crops like wheat and corn. Production is expected to start by 2021 and reach full capacity by 2022.
Egypt which highly depends on River Nile for water aims to expand sugar beet planting in the country because it uses less water than cane.
Currently, the UAE Al Khaleej Sugar Refinery is the largest port-based sugar refinery in the world.
