Hippo Valley battling sugar refining constraints
RYAN CHIGOCHE
Listed sugar producer, Hippo Valley Estates Limited is grappling with sugar refining constraints which has seen a shortage of the product on the local market.
“Although the company contributes to bottlers and manufacturer grade white sugar to the market, a shortage is consistently highlighted despite concerted efforts by Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle to supply. The constraint is refining and opportunity exists to improve on that” CEO Aiden Mhere told journalists in the capital last week.
With white sugar taking a much longer refining process this explains why it is more expensive than brown sugar and also why the company opts to produce brown sugar.
Mhere said Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle have contributed to the country’s national goal of improved access to modern energy through expanding and reinforcing the transmission grid to ensure system stability and security of supplies.
The contribution is through electricity supplies produced at its sugar mills in Hippo Valley and Triangle from sugarcane fibre.
About 5MW is added to the national grid.
Given the ongoing crippling power cuts, Mhere said Hippo Valley was upgrading its power facility at a cost of US$1m.
“…Cogeneration capacity is being upgraded at a cost of US$1m at Hippo Valley Estates mill to enable a total of 10MW to be fed to the national grid,” Mhere said.
