Mauritius sugar exports down

Mauritius exported 26,973 tonnes of sugar in April, down from 29,459 tonnes in the same month last year, the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate (MSS) said on Monday.
The Indian Ocean island's bulk export season generally runs from June to December, coinciding with the main harvesting period.
In April, Mauritius exported 4,829 tonnes of sugar.
Mauritius is forecast to produce 590,000 tonnes of sugar this year, compared to 537,155 tonnes in 2003.
The island's sugar exports accounted for 85 percent of all agricultural exports in 2002 and generated 8.2 billion rupees ($300 million) in foreign revenues - or almost six percent of the island's total gross domestic product.
Mauritius is the world's seventh biggest exporter of sugar and 25,000 people out of a population of 1.2 million make their living from sugar production.