Nzoia Sugar Company plans to start processing white table sugar as it upgrades its plant in efforts to access a wider market. Nzoia has been milling brown sugar only since inception. This comes at a time when the miller is expanding crushing capacity from the current 3,000 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes per day.
Managing director Godfrey Wanyonyi said the processing will begin before next year. “We are expanding our brands by introducing white table sugar as we target to grow revenue and satisfy all our customers,” said Mr Wanyonyi.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has given Kenya a one-year extension on sugar safeguards, which limits entry of the sweetener into the country. The extension expires next March.
Mr Wanyonyi said they were replacing obsolete machinery at the Bungoma County-based factory in a bid to improve production and competitiveness. The factory has been milling below capacity because of the old technology used in sugar production.
The expansion comes at a time when other millers, such as Kibos and Butali, are doubling production capacities to 3,000 tonnes per day. Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation Workers (KUSPW) has urged the government to deal with inefficiency, which has seen millers produce below capacity, by hastening privatisation of factories.
The Privatisation Commission has already approved the sale of the five state-owned sugar millers, bringing to a close the process that started nearly a decade ago.
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