The International Finance Corporation is considering a $40 million investment in a sugar beet project in Egypt as the country tries to reduce its dependence on imported sugar, Billionaire Africa reported.
According to documents reviewed by Ecofin Agency, the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank Group is assessing a senior loan proposal for Nile Sugar Company, a sugar beet producer owned by Orascom Investment Holding, the investment firm linked to Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris. The proposal has been under internal review for several months and is awaiting final approval.
If approved, the financing would be divided into two parts of $20 million each. The IFC would provide one portion directly, while the other would be arranged through outside investors. The loan would have a seven-year repayment period, including a three-year grace period.
Orascom acquired Nile Sugar in 2019 in a deal valued at 3.7 billion Egyptian pounds, about $71.8 million at that time. The purchase strengthened the group’s presence in the agricultural sector and gave it a stake in the country’s sugar industry.
The proposed funding would help develop about 13,711 feddans, or roughly 5,760 hectares, of farmland in Minya for sugar beet cultivation. The investment would also support infrastructure, farm equipment and working capital, including seeds and other inputs supplied to small farmers who grow crops for the company.
Nile Sugar operates a refinery in Nubariyah along the Alexandria–Cairo desert road. The facility can process up to 11,000 tons of sugar beet daily and produce about 232,000 tons of white sugar each season. The refinery depends largely on beet supplies from farms such as those planned in Minya.
The project also fits into a broader national plan led by the Egypt’s Countryside Development Company, which is working with several government ministries to bring four million feddans of desert land into agricultural use by 2030.
Egypt produced about 2.8 million tons of sugar in 2025, and officials expect output to reach 2.9 million tons next year. This would raise the country’s self-sufficiency level to around 81 percent, compared with 75.8 percent in 2024.
However, domestic demand remains higher at about 3.2 million tons a year, meaning the country still needs to import sugar. Import volumes are expected to fall to 1.5 million tons in the 2024-25 season from 1.8 million tons the previous year as authorities push projects like the Nile Sugar expansion to narrow the gap.
