Zimbabwe's sugar production for 2006 is expected to rise modestly to 491,000 tons up from last year's 429,000 tons, according to the Zimbabwe Sugar Association on Sunday.

The association said in a statement that 65 percent of this year's crop would be for domestic consumption while the remainder would be destined for the export market.

The association said it was aware of the illegal export of sugar into neighboring countries and that it regularly liaised with the Ministry of Industry and International Trade on ways to prevent such practices.

The allocation of sugar to the various markets was also agreed between the sugar industry and the Ministry of Industry and International Trade at the beginning of each milling season in April every year, it said.

It added that that the sugar exports by the industry were also regularly audited and monitored by the central bank, the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority in terms of the rules and regulations specified by the authorities.

Source: Xinhua