On the occasion of the start of the sugar campaign on 30 April 2014 in various factories in the Kingdom and following the example of the Sunabel sugar factory in Mechra Bel Ksiri in the province of Sidi Kacem, Dr Brahim Abouzeid, Governor of the province of Sidi Kacem, made a visit on Tuesday 6 May 2014 to enquire about the start-up of the said factory where he was welcomed by Hassan Mounir, Deputy General Manager, and executives of the Sunabel sugar factory of the Cosumar Group. Operating in the Gharb and Loukkos perimeters, the factory was created in 1968 for the processing of sugar beet from the irrigated sector of the Gharb-Cherrada-Bni-Hssen region. The Sunabel group consists of two industrial units, one located in Ksar El Kebir and the other in Mechra Bel Ksiri. The latter has recorded very significant investments with the objective of:

• Strengthening the technical train and consequently the services provided to farmers, particularly through the acquisition of precision seed drills and decomposed sites for mechanical harvesting and loading in order to cope with the shortage of labour. Likewise, these actions allow for better support for farmers in the sector.

• Increasing the processing capacity of the factory, which has gone from 3,500 to 6,000 tonnes per day as of the current campaign, making it the largest sugar factory in the Gharb region.

This increase in capacity allows for the processing of approximately 600,000 tonnes of beet annually, which is the equivalent of a white sugar production of 85,000 tonnes, representing approximately 20% of local white sugar production. Thus, Sunabel's activity is considered an important economic engine in the region: the income of farmers in terms of raw materials and by-products totals nearly 400 million dirhams, which is the equivalent of a gross income of 33,000 DH/ha.