Sugar Corp., a state-owned sugar producer, said that it was building ten new factories and was inviting private investment as part of a plan to become one of the world's 10 biggest exporters of the crop.

The project involves constructing plants and establishing farms at a cost of about 4.6 billion dollars in four regions of the country, Abay Tsehaye, director general of the company, said last week.

Abay said that Ethiopia hopes to become one of the top 10 exporters of sugar in the coming 15 years.

Last year alone, the country imported 150,000 tonnes of sugar. According to Abay, the country aims to become self-sufficient in the crop by the end of 2013 and increase production almost eightfold to 2.3 million tonnes by mid-2015, leaving a surplus of 1.25 million tonnes for export. 

The United States, the world's tenth-largest producer in 2009, grew 27.5 million tonnes, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

According to Abay, Sugar Corp. was established in November for the purpose of overseeing construction and running the projects.

The company has projects in Beles, Wolkait and Kesem of the Amhara, Tigray and Afar regional states as well as in the South Omo Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' region, Yilma Tibebu, Sugar Corp. spokesman said last week.

Source: Bloomberg