Zambia Sugar: Investing for long-term resilience

ABF owns 75% of Zambia Sugar plc, the market-leading sugar business in Zambia and Africa’s largest single-mill cane sugar factory. Investments over the past decade have increased Zambia Sugar’s total factory capacity to 450,000 tonnes of unrefined sugar annually – of which refined sugar production capacity has more than doubled to around 90,000 tonnes annually – as well as generating significant efficiency improvements.

As part of our long-term commitment to African sugar, Zambia Sugar has this year been progressing the construction of its Twazabuka facility, a modern packing plant and warehousing facility set to be completed in mid-2027. At nearly £50m, this investment will increase packing operations from 36 to 52 weeks per year, unlocking additional pre-pack sales and packing capacity, generating efficiency gains, reducing logistics costs and improving flexibility to meet customer demand.

Successful initiatives by Zambia Sugar to improve agricultural performance have seen own-grown cane yields increasing from around 108 tonnes of cane per hectare in 2021 to approximately 123 tonnes this year, with specific fields achieving yields as high as 200 tonnes per hectare. These yield increases have been enabled through improved planting practices, field fallowing, use of cover crops, soil health improvement and integrated pest and disease management.

The introduction of sub-surface drainage and the ongoing conversion to more efficient irrigation systems have further supported productivity gains, while strong partnerships with external growers complement efforts to support the longterm sustainability and resilience of the overall cane supply base.

Zambia Sugar’s consumer brand is Whitespoon, Zambia’s leading sugar brand with average daily sales of over 500,000 packs of sugar. Zambia Sugar continues to invest in its commercial capability, marketing initiatives, routes to market and portfolio optimisation to strengthen Whitespoon's position for the long term 

Across its 7,500 employees, strong network of outgrowers, housing programme and support for local hospitals, clinics and schools, Zambia Sugar is continuing to invest in its people and communities while simultaneously increasing resilience and favourably positioning the business for growth.

An aerial view of Zambia Sugar's Nakambala factory, the biggest single-mill cane sugar factory in Africa