Offloading of surgarcane from the tractors at Nzoia sugar company.[Photo/Business daily ]
Kibos sugar company, which is set to be the first industry to produce sugar targeting the East African regional market, will begin its operations at the end of this year as it aims on reducing the dependence on the sugar imports.
Kibos which had been scheduled to begin its operations in 2015, is in the final stages of procuring the logistics that includes direct import of sugar from Brazil that will be processed at the plant.
“Kibos is firming up supply contracts with suppliers and they will be ready to start processing refined sugar at the end of the year,” said head of Sugar Directorate Solomon Odera.
Odera also added that the plant has already been given the permit to produce 30,000 tonnes of sugar annually with the directorate monitoring the production before the full operations is allowed.
Kibos sugar plant has been designed to process 150,000 tonnes of sugar annually.
Kenya has been in the past hit by the sugar shortage forcing the government to issue individuals with the licences and the advantage of exempted duty in importing the sugar from Brazil.
The directorate has however been accusing some of the importers for divulging the sugar to domestic use thus killing the local industries.