UGANDA – Sarrai Group, a conglomerate of diverse and inter-related agro-manufacturing companies across East and Southern Africa, has inaugurated a new sugar factory in Kiryandongo district, Western Uganda.
The new Kiryandongo Crest Sugar factory, seats on 13,000 acres of land with a processing sugar capacity of 4000 tonnes per day.
Having ample land, according to Chimp Reports, the factory will rely on sugar cane from its own farm and the neighbouring farming communities.
Other than supporting the local farmers by availing ready market for their produce, the facility is expected to employ about 800 workers and further drive the nation’s industrialization policy.
Opening of the new facility comes three months after Sarrai’s subsidiary, Kinyara Sugar Limited, launched East Africa’s first industrial sugar refinery in Masindi District.
The plant, constructed at a cost of US$15m, has a production capacity of 60,000 metric tons of industrial white sugar annually, consuming about 70,000 metric tons of mill brown sugar as raw material.
The new facility will cut on the country’s importation bill of refined sugar which currently stands at US$50 million.
Refined sugar is majorly used in production of soft drinks, baked goods, confectionaries, pharmaceuticals, among other uses, with Uganda’s current demand ranging from 78,000 metric tons to 90,000 metric tons annually.
Establishment of the factory will enable the manufacturers to obtain the industrial sugar cheaply and timely, as it will cut on the long delivery time witnessed with imports.
In addition, the refined sugar will have a ready market throughout East Africa whose demand for industrial sugar is 150,000 metric tons.
With this factory, KSL has strengthened its presence in the Ugandan sugar market, where it is the second largest player with 30% of sales behind Kakira Sugar Works.
The new refinery is an addition to the miller’s sugar factory, with a capacity of 120,000MT per annum, served by an expanded cane area of 39,000 hectares from both nucleus and out-growers.
Other than sugar production, KSL generates electricity for its own use and also sells the excess to the national grid as it totals to about 14.5MW per annum.
Other sugar factories owned by Sarrai Group include Hoima Sugar Ltd, located in Kiziranfumbi, Hoima District with a cane crushing capacity of 1500 TCD expandable to 4000TCD.
The nucleus estate covers 10,000 hectares and has its own cogeneration power plant with an installed capacity of 5 MW expandable to 12 MW and a distillery plant having an installed capacity of 20 KL/day.
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