ALGIERS: A new sugar refinery in Algeria with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year will start production "within weeks", an industry ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday, as the country looks to cut imports because of the oil price drop.
The refinery, which is owned by a private Algerian investor and is near the western city of Oran, will later double output to 600,000 tonnes a year, the official said.
Its sugar will serve the domestic market, and possibly for shipping abroad.
The new refinery comes after a plant with a capacity of 350,000 tonnes a year, run by France's Cristal Union and local firm La Belle, started production in December.
Family-owned Cevital had been the sole sugar refiner in the North African country, with a capacity of about 1 million tonnes a year.
It imports most of its raw sugar from Brazil.
OPEC member Algeria has said it would seek to rein in imports to ease the impact of the fall in crude oil prices which almost halved its energy earnings for 2015.
Algeria relies heavily on oil and gas exports to finance its budget and pay for growing imports bill despite attempts to diversify its economy.
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