Sugar

ABF Sugar produces a range of sugar, fuels and other products from sugar cane, sugar beet and wheat in Africa, the UK and Spain.

£2,529m

Revenue

£199m

Adjusted operating profit

Across this group of businesses we employ 29,000 people and operate 19 plants in eight countries, with the capacity to produce approximately 4.5 million tonnes of sugar annually. We farm more than 330,000 hectares across our markets, between ourselves and over 25,000 growers.

In Africa, we have sugar cane operations in Eswatini, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, and packing operations in Rwanda. We have market-leading consumer brands in these countries, with Bwana Sukari in Tanzania, White Spoon in Zambia and Illovo in multiple markets. In certain markets we also produce co-products such as potable alcohol, furfural and electricity for local grids.

In the UK, British Sugar is the sole processor of the sugar beet crop and in Spain, Azucarera is the largest sugar producer. Our strong domestic brands include Silver Spoon in the UK and the Azucarera brand in Spain. In the UK, we produce a range of co-products including energy, animal feed, bioethanol, betaine and CO₂. We operate one of the largest wheat bioethanol production facilities in the UK, Vivergo.

We also have a 42.5% ownership in Czarnikow Group Limited (CZ), a global supply chain management and advisory company specialising in the food and beverage sector.

Our Sugar brands

Azucarera

Azucarera is the leading sugar company in Iberia offering a wide range of product choice for in-home consumption, from brown and white sugar to syrups and sweetener.

Azucarera website

Bwana Sukari

Bwana Sukari is produced by Kilombero Sugar and is a market leader in the branded sugar category, known and enjoyed by many across Tanzania.

Bwana Sukari website

Illovo "Trusted Quality"

Under the “Trusted Quality” brand, sugar produced by Illovo Sugar Malawi leads the sector - we are proudly local and in the homes of many Malawians starting their every day with Illovo – Tseketseke!

Illovo Sugar website

Whitespoon

Sugar is sold locally under Illovo’s “Trusted Quality” brand in Rwanda and in South Africa where it leads the industrial sugar market sector. In Malawi, Illovo is the country’s leading sugar producer for consumer and industrial markets.

White Spoon website

Our Sugar businesses

ABF Sugar is a leading producer of sugar and sugar derived co-products in Africa, the UK, Spain and north east China. We operate 20 plants in 9 countries and have 30,000 employees. We have the capacity to produce some 4.5 million tonnes of sugar annually. Our products are sold into industry sectors including food and drink, pharmaceutical, industrial, agricultural and horticultural, power and energy.

ABF Sugar website

Azucarera is a leading sugar producer in Iberia, supplying industrial and retail customers in Spain and Portugal. With sugar beet plants, a logistics and packaging plant, a research and development centre, a raw sugar cane refinery and a power plant situated across northern and southern Spain; the business also produces co-products including animal feed, agricultural fertilisers and electricity.

Azucarera website

British Sugar is the sole processer of the UK’s sugar beet crop, producing around 1.2 million tonnes of sugar at its four advanced manufacturing plants across East Anglia and the East Midlands each year. We also produce a variety of co-products including animal feed, bioethanol, topsoil, aggregate, LimeX and electricity through our combined heat and power plants.

British Sugar website

Illovo is the largest cane sugar producer in Africa, with over 1.7 million tonnes produced annually. We have operations in Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. We produce raw and refined sugar from sugar cane supplied by our own farms and independent growers, as well as a range of co-products including furfural and its derivatives, ethyl alcohol and co-generated electricity.

Illovo Sugar Africa website

Vivergo is one of Europe’s biggest bioethanol producers and the United Kingdom’s largest single-source supplier of animal feed. At full production, we can produce enough bioethanol to meet half of the UK’s current demand.

Vivergo Fuels website

Sugar in action

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