The coming on stream of the 380,000 metric tonne sugar factory at Komenda in the Western Region will reduce Ghana’s import bill on Sugar by more than 60%, official sources at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) say.

Ghana currently imports US$300 million worth of sugar each year, but the Ministry is confident it can limit the amount of foreign exchange we spend on such imports shortly after the completion of the project.

The project is about 70% complete and likely to kick start before the 24-month completion date, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has said.

“The factory is supposed to come on-stream in the third quarter of next year; but because it is moving at a much faster rate, our estimate is that it will most likely be complete by the second quarter of the year,”

“Our view is not just to produce sugar for local consumption; the long-term view is to make Ghana a net exporter of sugar,” George Kobina Fynn, MOTI’s Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, told AGI members in Accra.

The factory is being powered through a US$35 million loan from the EXIM Bank of India, with the government of Ghana providing a counterpart funding of US$1.5million.