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The exceptional performance this year in Illovo Sugar Africa was driven by two factors: operational efficiencies and strong domestic and regional sales.
Operational efficiencies were achieved through the ongoing implementation of cost and performance improvement plans. The significant improvement in sugar recovery at our Sezela plant in South Africa is a very good example of this, with further process standardisation and automation. This best practice is now being adopted across Illovo Sugar Africa, raising overall operational efficiency.
We also increased revenues through strong domestic and regional growth. Over recent years we have been building our commercial capability in each of our markets. We are increasingly serving our customers with sugar in branded packs that are affordable and accessible for consumers in deep rural areas at preferred pack sizes.
Domestic market sales increased by 60,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes, as we were able to meet increased demand caused by supply shortages due to the pandemic. Local sales in Malawi and Zambia were exceptionally strong.
Despite the logistical challenges we experienced in bulk sugar exports over this period, regional sales were also strong, with a further 245,000 tonnes of sugar delivered to neighbouring countries, building our #AfricanSugar4AfricanMarkets strategy, which is aimed at being the supplier of choice in these markets. We were also able to take action to benefit from higher commodity prices across a number of international markets in which our range of co-products, such as furfural and potable alcohol, are sold.
The performance across Illovo Sugar Africa has been delivered in what has been an unsettling time for our people. Since the global pandemic began, our aim has been to help protect our people, their families and the communities in which we operate, from COVID-19 infection. We repurposed our medical infrastructure and services and aligned with governments, NGOs and other organisations to support public education and awareness programmes. More recently, we have launched a Group Vaccination Roll-out Campaign which has seen almost 20,000 employees, dependants, growers and community members vaccinated to date. We plan to continue the campaign in the coming months to reach many more.
Through an effective leadership effort from everyone across Illovo Sugar Africa, coupled with the right resources and trust in our local teams, we have delivered for our customers and driven our revenues and operating profit to levels significantly ahead of last year.