MOROCCO: Sucrafor to invest in equipment upgrade

Moroccan state-owned sugar company Sucrafor is to spend 74m Moroccan dirhams (US$7.1m) on an equipment upgrade. The company, which is expecting to post a profit of 7m dirhams for 2002, has already received the first half of the 60m dirhams capital increase from the Moroccan government aimed at boosting its activities before the planned restructuring and privatisation. Sucrafor has used the government funding to help increase production by 10% in 2002, and aims to increase it by a further 5% in 2003, reported the Moroccan News Digest.