(Ecofin Agency) - State-owned Ethiopian Sugar Corporation should soon sell its 75% stake in the Beles sugar project, to Turkish company Bedisa Group, for $1 billion. Agreements related to the transaction should be signed by the end of the year, according to Binai Boran, Bedisa’s President.

Located in the Amhara region, the Beles sugar project will require a $1.4 investment and will be developed in two stages. The first consists in establishing a sugar cane plantation of 50,000 ha. It will receive irrigation waters from the Beles River, via a deviation dam. The second stage is the construction of two sugar factories which are to start operating in Q2 2017, Mr. Boran said.

His group will finance the project on personal funds. The rest of the financing will come from local and international banks, officials revealed.

According to data from Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, Ethiopia consumes up to 700,000 tons of sugar each year while annual output is 440,000 tons. The country aims to produce 4.9 million tons of sugar by 2020, to become a major sugar exporter.