2024-25 sugar production in Africa will gain 0.8 million tonnes, projects the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in mid-2025. 

The FAO’s report puts continental sugar output at 10.4 million tonnes before the culmination of the 2024-25 season.

Tipping the scales will be the Nile irrigator, Egypt, with 2.6 million tonnes, alongside Morocco and Kenya.

While Kenya’s annual production will scale up by 60% to 0.8 million tonnes, Morocco’s will grow 100% to 0.4 million tonnes. 

Production in Kenya first revamped in Quarter 3, 2024 after months of dormancy, following sugarcane sector reforms. 

A World Surplus

The continental levels are in tandem with global trends. Although the FAO expects 2024-25 worldwide output to dip by 1.1%, surplus will come from high annual carryover stocks. 

Consumption will exceed the record 2023-24 equivalent of 176 million tonnes to a new 178.1 million tonnes.  

However, this utilization will barely scratch the surface of production at 180.3 million tonnes, plus the ending stocks at 122.3 million tonnes. 

For this reason, surplus will continue to be bearish, with prices still low since their initial fall in August 2024. 

International market rates have intermittently lowered from over US¢22 per pound in January 2024 to around US¢17 in May 2025.  

Low Import Prices Benefit Nigeria

Some of Africa’s major consumer markets such as Nigeria are taking advantage of low import prices by converting margins from big volumes. 

Traders here are profiteering from low quotations from the main source, Brazil, the supplier of 96% of Nigeria’s imported sugar. 

One of the beneficiaries is Dangote mills by the wealthy entrepreneur, one of the biggest utilizer of import volumes. 

It is therefore a surplus year for the sugar sector in Africa and a blow for global prices. Below statistics take the debate further by recounting continental sweeteners’ totals. 

Africa Sugar Statistics

Sub-tropical regions such as Africa, Asia and South America produce 80% of the world’s sugar, all from sugarcane. Africa alone has an output of 10.4 million tonnes, per a 2024-25 output. In the 2023-24 season, the continental output at 9.6 million tonnes was meager compared to the total global production estimate of 187.9 million tonnes. Many countries in Africa that cannot grow cane or beets rely on either neighbors for supplies or import from mainly Brazil. 

Which is Africa’s largest sugar-producing nation? 

According to the FAOSTAT, Egypt is the continent’s biggest sugar producer at 2.46 million tonnes, as of 2022. Its sugarcane output rounded up to 15.3 million tonnes in 2023, from a Nile-embanked acreage of 139,547 hectares.

Which country consumes most sugar in Africa? 

Gambia had the highest sugar per capita in Africa in 2022 at 0.0493 kg per person per year. In annual consumption volumes, however, Egypt at 2.398 million tonnes topped the tally in 2022. Nigeria was second at 1.642 million tonnes while South Africa finished the top 3 at 1.589 million tonnes.