The Syndicat des Sucres will have the opportunity to import a shipment of about 15 per cent of the local production.
This will be mixed with the local sugar for the manufacture of other types of sugars.
The first shipment of 20,000-25, 000 tonnes of raw sugar is expected in the country in the first week of July. The sugar will be unloaded at the Bulk Sugar Terminal (BST).
Jean Noël Humbert, president of the Syndicat des Sucres and a member of the BST, informed the stakeholders of this new activity at a board meeting on Monday.
At this point, the BST is working on the logistics for the ship to dock at the terminal.
New facilities are being implemented to allow loading of raw sugar in trucks that will transport it to the refineries.
The raw sugar will be delivered to companies such as Omnicane and Flacq United Estates Ltd (F.U.E.L Sugar Estate) for refining prior to export. Earlier, the bulk terminal was used to export the raw sugar produced in Mauritius.
But now, Mauritius is importing raw sugar from countries like Thailand and Brazil.
The Syndicat des Sucres has allowed the import of sugar for domestic refining and will export this to the main market, Europe.This year 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of sugar is expected to be refined in the country. According to sources, the Syndicat des Sucres will now import raw sugar every year.This is the first time that the country is importing sugar to be refined. The sugar estates are hoping to start the 2011 harvest shortly and the refineries will then have more sugar to process thus providing more work in bulk.
At one point, the employees believed that the bulk would stop its operations and they would lose their jobs. The forecast for sugar export is around 14,000 containers of white sugar and 5,000 containers of special sugars.
The bulk will always have its purpose and will continue its activities. The BST is the third largest bulk terminal in the world.