Leading sugar producer resumes production

KILOMBERO Sugar Company Limited targets 126,955 tonnes of sugar in the 2018/19 season, up from 118,000 tonnes last year as it resumes production after annual maintenance.

This comes two weeks after the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Charles Tizeba confirmed that local sugar factories would resume production before the end of May after annual maintenance is completed.

The Finance Manager for Kilombero Sugar Company Limited, Fakihi Fadhili said for the 2018/19 season, the sugar factory was targeting to crash 1,260,000 tonnes of cane and produce 126,955 tonnes of sugar to ensure there is sufficient supply of sugar in the market.

“We are expecting more cane this year compared to last year, we are looking at not less than 1,260,000 tonnes of cane. I call on Kilombero growers who are our key partners in the business to work hard this season to make sure that we achieve our target,” he said.

The sugar company also expects to resume production in its second plant on June 5th after annual maintenance of the factory is completed.

Kilombero Sugar Company officially resumed production on Tuesday last week at one of its two plants known as K2, in an event that was officially graced by Kilosa District Commissioner Adam Mgoyi.

Mgoyi commended Kilombero Sugar for resuming production on time, saying the resumption was key to addressing the sugar deficit in the market, something that made the government to import more than 130,000 tonnes of sugar.

“This is a promising step for the sugar market, especially now that the demand for sugar is quite high especially this time as Muslims are observing the month Ramadan,” he said.

He said the government acknowledges the contribution of local sugar companies in addressing demand for sugar.

Earlier, last week Kilombero Sugar Company held successful waged negotiation talks with its workers’ union (TPAWU) whereas both sides agreed on a percentage of annual increment for 2018/19.

The sugar company also reached an agreement with Kilombero cane growers on the final sugar cane payment known as Division of Proceed (DOP) for the just ended fiscal year 2017/18.

Through the DOP scheme, both parties benefit fairly from the cane business. Kilombero Sugar Company is the biggest sugar factory in Tanzania, contributing 40 per cent of sugar supplied by local factories.