REPORTS

ChiniMandi - Oman is set to commence its first-ever sugar refinery at Sohar Port and Freezone, marking the country’s efforts to produce commercial white sugar domestically and reduce its reliance on sugar imports. The state-of-the-art facility, being prepared for commissioning by German technology provider BMA, is nearing the final stages before full production begins, reported Oman Daily Observer.  The primary investor in the Oman Sugar Refinery is Nasser bin Ali Al Hosni, an Omani entrepreneur who also owns sugar factories in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Once fully operational, the Sohar refinery will produce 3,000 tonnes of refined white sugar per day. To prepare for the refinery’s opening, the first shipment of raw sugar, approximately 90,000 tonnes, arrived from Brazil in August.

Barchart - Sugar prices settled higher on Thursday after a sharp rally in crude oil prices sparked short-covering in sugar futures. Crude oil (CLZ25) surged more than +5% on Thursday to a 2-week high, which benefits ethanol prices and could prompt the world's sugar mills to divert more cane crushing toward ethanol production rather than sugar, thus curbing sugar supplies.