Business Reporter
Sugar processor starafricacorporation has completed the $7 million upgrade of its Harare Goldstar sugar refinery plant, lifting its capacity to 600 tonnes from 350 tonnes per day.starafrica is expected to release its Goldstar sugar product on to the market this week, after completing the upgrading of the refinery plant, which began in August last year. Production from the plant fell 72 percent to 4,6 tonnes in the 12 months to March this year, as the plant was out of commission, which condemned the group to a loss of $12,1 million.

Public Service Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche, toured the plant last week, accompanied by National Social SecurityAuthority general manager Mr James Matiza.

The plant has been upgraded through the installation of modern refinery equipment procured from India with financial assistance from NSSA, starafrica’s largest shareholder.

NSSA holds 18 percent stake in the sugar processor while other major shareholders; Old Mutual and ZSR Investments UK own 10,7 percent and 8,15 percent shareholdings, respectively.

The sugar refinery plant has been upgraded to a total maximum production capacity of 600 tonnes of high quality sugar per day. It is now undergoing the final commissioning phase.

The plant upgrade brings with it new sugar refining process technologies, benchmarked against global industry best practice in terms of productivity indicators relating to operating efficiencies, processing loss control and sugar quality. This would result in significantly reduced production costs.

The refinery plant had become inefficient due to antiquated equipment and was the cause of the group’s perennial losses.

“With the new plant we will produce sugar that meets the requirements of all market segments and is of a world class quality,” starafricacorporation refinery general manager Mr Marvellous Sibanda told Minister Goche during the tour of the plant.

“The plant is now automated and is run from a computerised control room (SCADA system) which will make it easier to detect operational problems within any section of the upgraded plant and to resolve them with minimal loss of time,” he said.

starafricacorporation chief executive Dr Sam Mushiri said the plant now had more than adequate capacity to meet the needs of its customers.

“Beverage bottlers and other manufacturers, who are our biggest clients, were importing sugar while the plant was being upgraded. “Now that the (refinery) plant is back in production, with improved quality and availability, there is no need for our manufacturing customers or any other segment of the market to import sugar anymore,” the starafricacorporation CEO said.

Whereas the old technology produced four grades of sugar, the new technology enables the plant to produce only one sugar grade, namely premium white, the highest grade for all segments.

The upgraded plant also reduces water usage by close to 45 percent through water reclamation and recirculation techniques. Coal usage will also be reduced by around 15 percent through the use of modern heat recovery technologies.

The Quality Assurance Laboratory was upgraded to ensure product and process quality standards are not compromised.

“In the packaging plant, we upgraded the building facilities and replaced packaging equipment to meet stringent beverage bottlers’ sugar grade requirements,” Dr Mushiri said.

Sugar for household consumption, Goldstar sugar brand, will be reintroduced on the market in new improved packaging.

Mr Matiza said, as the major shareholder, NSSA expected a good return on its investment now that production was resuming.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey