Zambia Sugar Plc - Zambia’s Largest Sugar Producer

Zambia’s largest sugar producer, Zambia Sugar Plc is found in Mazabuka where its main activities are the growing of sugarcane on an irrigated Estate of approximately 14, 640 ha, and the production and marketing of sugar and downstream products.

This is done at the Nakambala Sugar plantation on Kafue flats, just a few kilometers outside town towards Livingstone.

The sugar is sold both locally and regionally. The company’s other products at its Nakambala factory includes Molasses. This is a by product which is sold as stock feed on the local and regional markets.

Zambia Sugar exports a third of its sugar into the regional market while another third is exported to the EU, with the remainder being offloaded on the local market.

Zambia Sugar is a subsidiary of Illovo Sugar Group. This is a South African based company and holds an 81.6% stake in the Zambia Sugar. Illovo has other branches in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Mozambique, and South Africa.

Currently Zambia Sugar has an annual production of about 246,468 tonnes. This is expected to increase to 440,055 tonnes in 2012/2013 once the expansion program is complete.

The expansion programme involves planting an additional 10,422 hectares of land, constructing new roads and twenty-six kilometers of new canals as well as upgrading the existing plant.

In addition, the company has a permanent employee base of 1,800 and offers medical, educational, sports and recreation and other social facilities at the Nakambala Estate in Mazabuka.

In order to contain the load-shedding (power blackouts) the company has installed five generators with a capacity to produce 40 megawatts. This meets the power requirements of the factory operations and irrigation of the Nakambala Estate which taps the water from the Kafue River.