At least 600 delegates from more than 45 countries will attend the upcoming Kingsman Dubai Sugar Conference, a renowned event in the world of sugar trading, in Dubai, said organisers.

The ninth edition of the event will be held at the Grand Hyatt Dubai from February 2 to 5.

Dubai’s Al Khaleej Sugar Refinery, the world’s largest stand-alone refinery, will discuss key topics during its participation in the conference that will host internationally known speakers and top decision- makers in the world of sugar.

Producers, importers, refiners, analysts, investment bankers, shipping companies, end users and traders will be attending the event discussing topics that impact significantly the future of the sugar market. The conference will be the ideal platform for industry experts, such as Al Khaleej Sugar, to debate on market trends, statistics, demand & supply, production, import and export, financing and other major topics that are relevant to the industry.

Kingsman director, Jonathan Kingsman, said the annual event had proved to not only attract diverse audiences interested in the sugar industry but was also a significant venue for companies to meet and participants to network. He said that more sugar was sold on the sidelines of the Dubai Sugar Conference than at any other time of the year.

Kingsman said that global sugar prices declined 16 per cent in 2012, one of the worst performers in the commodity field. However what may be bad news for investors or sugar producers is good news for sugar consumers.

Jamal Al Ghurair, managing director of Al Khaleej Sugar said, “2013 is expected to witness a global surplus in the sugar industry, with predictions of an additional 8-9 million tons of Sugar produced during the year, and consumption rates are expected to grow between 2-2.5 per cent.

“These topics along with many others will be discussed in this leading conference with the high profile speakers and attendees from all over the world. We are looking forward to the start of the conference as we expect a highly successful edition this year.”

Al Ghurair, who will open the conference with a key note speech, also highlighted the diversified topics that the conference will cover.

“The program is very rich and diversified this year; Topics will highlight the sugar economy, Agriculture Business, country focus- such as Brazil & India in addition to many others. It will also include extensive workshops and networking meetings that will benefit the attendees greatly,” he added.

“In 2012, we have seen a slew of improvements and additions to our refinery as we installed new equipments that helped increase production rates. In August 2012, the refinery set a new production record reaching 7150 tons of refined sugar in one day,” concluded Al Ghurair. - TradeArabia News Service