Sudan signs $500 mln deals with Brazil-sugar exec
KHARTOUM, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Sudanese companies signed up to $500 million worth of deals with Brazilian agricultural, construction and engineering groups, the head of the African state's biggest sugar company said on Sunday.
Africa's largest country, shut out of the U.S. market by harsh sanctions, has been expanding its trade with China, India, Brazil and the Middle East while trying to diversify its economy away from its main export, oil.
Mohamed El Mardi, managing director of Kenana Sugar Company, told Reuters that Sudanese companies accompanying a Khartoum government delegation to Brasilia signed scores of initial agreements, many of them funded with Brazilian credit.
Kenana signed two deals with Brazil's Dedini to provide machinery and equipment to double the size of Kenana's ethanol plant in Sudan and to set up a new biodiesel operation, he said after returning from the trip, without going into further detail.
"There were not less that $300 million of initial agreements made. When you factor on the infrastructure deals, the figure could go up to $500 million," he said speaking briefly at Khartoum airport after returning from the trip.
"There are lots of synergies between Sudan and Brazil which also focuses on sugar as a leader of agro-industry. Brazil has a very ambitious export credit programme. They are offering very soft finance."
Sudan's Giad engineering company also secured a number of deals on the visit led by the country's industry minister, Mardi said, adding it was too early to go into details about the value of the specific agreements.
Dedini provided equipment for Kenana's existing ethanol factory, the first one in Sudan, which exported its first 5 million litres (1.3 million gallons) of ethanol to the European Union in December.
Sugar is a key commodity in Sudan, where the population is sensitive to price hikes. The country, which hopes to be a sugar exporter by 2014, currently has to import to cover domestic consumption of 1.2 million tonnes a year.
The United States stepped up sanctions against in Sudan in 1997, accusing the government of human rights abuses and supporting terrorism, then tightened the restrictions further in 2006 over the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
Source: reuters.com
