Dubai's Al Khaleej Sugar is operating at 70% capacity as sugar refineries in the Middle East struggle with overcapacity, the company's managing director, Jamal al-Ghurair, said on Tuesday during the Dubai Sugar Conference.

"In the whole region, the refineries are operating below their capacity, since there is a 60-70% overcapacity in the Middle East. Some refineries are operating at 30-40% capacity," he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

Al Khaleej Sugar operates the world's largest port-based refinery of the sweetener.

Al Ghurair said India's return to the global market as an exporter was weighing on sugar prices in the Middle East.

India has allowed exports of one million metric tons of sugar during the current season to September 2025 to help mills in the world's second largest producer export surplus stocks and help prop up local prices.

"India’s dumping had stopped but (has) once again returned. Not just in the UAE but also across the Gulf," he said.

Al Ghurair said there were no plans yet to export sugar to Syria, after a new administration took over the war-ravaged country following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad on December 8.

"I don’t know if we will export to Syria. It’s all brand new. There must be stability there first before we start exporting," he said.

The company's production is now at 1.6 million tons a year with 20% for the local market and 80% for exports.

"There is no increasing demand," he said, adding a rise in consumption locally would depend on whether the UAE can expanding manufacturing of products linked to sugar.

Most of the raw sugar used by the refinery comes from Brazil, the world's top exporter of the sweetener.

Al Ghurair said the company's factory in Egypt, which processes sugar beet, had been operational for two years but was also not at full capacity due to a cap in prices linked to the country's subsidy programme.

(Reporting by Mohamed Ezz and Maha El Dahan, Writing by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Louise Heavens and Christina Fincher)