UAE - Mubasher: Dubai-based Al Khaleej Sugar Company has received approval to construct a sugar-beet processing factory in Spain to expand the company's businesses beyond the Middle East and North Africa, the Managing Director, Jamal Al Ghurair, told Bloomberg.

Al Ghurair added that the company, which owns the world’s largest port-based sugar refinery, plans to start constructing the factory in Merida next year with an investment of around EUR 500 million ($590 million).

On Friday, 16 July, the agreement between Al Khaleej's subsidiary Iberica Sugar Co. and Spanish authorities was reached as part of the company's objective to expand to sugar-beet processing, with a factory in Egypt and another one to be built in Spain.

The managing director referred that this move will enable the company to expand in Europe following a failed attempt in the UK.

Al Ghurair referred that the factory will have a production capacity of as much as 900,000 metric tonnes of sugar per year, which is about the size of the factory in Egypt.

Operations in Spain are expected to begin in 2024.