Amin Farid, head of financial affairs at Delta Sugar Company, told Daily News Egypt that beet sugar stocks reached 145,685 tonnes worth over EGP 1bn, noting that this is the first time the stocks have grown this large due to continuous production. He attributed the increase in sugar stocks to the development of production lines and raising the efficiency of the capacity of operation of the plant from 14,000 tonnes of beet to 20,000 tonnes of beet per day, which raised the production of beet sugar and molasses. Furthermore, he confirmed that his company will sign and implement high quantity contracts during this week to sell the entire stock worth EGP 1bn before the end of 2019. Moreover, he also expected the export of 100,000 tonnes of molasses by the end of 2019, after exporting the first batch of 10,000 tonnes, where the company floated a bid to export 50,000 tonnes and will export 30,000 tonnes in hard currency over several stages and funnel 20,000 tonnes in the local market. The company also offered a bid to export beet pulp used in the feed industry. The head of financial affairs of Delta Sugar Company said that the company's plant produces approximately 220,000 tonnes of white sugar, 80,000 tonnes of molasses, and 94,000 tonnes of beet pulp that is used in feed manufacturing. The company's plant in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate continues to receive beet crop from farmers to produce sugar from beets, and has received about 1.63m tonnes of beets from farmers to produce sugar, he confirmed. It is worth mentioning that the Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali Meselhi, has inaugurated the development and modernisation of the Delta Sugar Beet Plant in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate after raising the efficiency of the plant's capacity from 14,000 tonnes of beet to 20,000 tonnes of beet per day and production to more than 3,000 tonnes of sugar daily. The minister also inaugurated the industrial waste disposal plant for factories, which is the largest and the first industrial sewage treatment plant, where industrial wastewater is treated to protect the environment from the expected pollution caused by the discharge of this water with its pollutants. The station's operating capacity was increased to 7,209 cubic metres per day, which is commensurate with the factory's operating capacity. Notably, the Delta Sugar Company achieved a profit of EGP 70.49m during the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, compared to profits of EGP 78.4m in the comparative period of 2018, a decline of 10%. Despite the decline in the company's profits, sales jumped significantly, rising to EGP 926.1m in Q1 of this year compared to sales of EGP 243.5m in the comparable quarter of 2018, an increase of 280%. Farid explained that some industrial expenses went up, which lowered the profits. Noteworthy, the Delta Sugar has distributed compound rights at EGP 2 per share end Monday 27 May.
