Salima Sugar Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Greenbelt Authority (GBA), resumed production yesterday targeting to produce at least 20 000 metric tonnes (MT) of sugar this production year.

GBA chief executive officer Amon Mluwira in an interview yesterday said they want to surpass last year’s production of about 9 000MT.

He said: “We have started crushing sugarcane and we are expecting the end product by Thursday [today].

“Last year, the factory only produced 90 00MT, but in a year we are supposed to produce 20 000MT. So this year, we are targeting to produce 20 000MT.”

Mluwira also said they are also working hand in hand with management of Salima Sugar Limited to rehabilitate the scheme, stating that some sugarcane is drying up because it’s not being irrigated and some has matured.

“This reduces the sucrose that we can get in the sugarcane. We are also in the process of comprehensively repairing the factory, because although it’s running, it still needs major maintenance so that it should not have major breakdowns in future,” he said.

Briefing the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Corporations and State Entities in Lilongwe on the status of the company’s shareholding recently, company officials lamented a K23 billion bank loan, saying it is frustrating its efforts to expand sugar production as its revenue is only enough to clear interest payments.

Committee chairperson Sylvester Ayuba James said they will first have to establish that indeed the company is not being sold before it can recommend a bailout.

James, a lawyer, said the committee is also interested to see how the conflict on shareholding will be resolved, fearing that there might be some fishy dealings behind.

Malawi Government-owned Salima Sugar Company has lamented a K23 billion bank loan, saying it is frustrating its efforts to expand sugar production as its revenue is only enough to clear interest payments.

Salima Sugar Company was established in 2015 as a public private partnership between the Malawi Government with a 40 percent stake and AUM Sugar and Allied Limited of India with 60 percent stake.

However, in 2023, the government terminated the shareholding due to alleged breach of contract after a forensic audit revealed that $35 million (about K61 billion) invested in the company could not be accounted for.

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