July 7, 1957
SUGAR FACTORY: Thessaloniki, 6 – The director of the confederation of farm cooperatives has announced, at a meeting of its Thessaloniki, Veria and Yiannitsa branches here this morning, that the government has decided to set up two sugar factories, each with the capacity to produce 2,000 tons of sugar beet daily. These factories are to be built in Thessaloniki and Thessaly and will be turned over to cooperative farmers. They will operate 100 days a year, processing 100,000 to 200,000 tons of sugar beet each. The sugar beet fields of Thessaloniki will be divided into six zones, each being cultivated a year at a time. In the intervening five years, these fields will be sown with other crops, in particular wheat. Each year 12,000 hectares will be planted with sugar beet. Each factory will cost 7.5 million dollars, the equipment will be paid for out of war reparations payments from Italy. Representatives of the organizations will meet again within the next two weeks to reach final decisions regarding payment of the loans for the construction of the factories, the economic exploitation of the business and other issues.
