Bongiwe Sibandze

Ubombo Sugar Limited

Ubombo Sugar Limited is part of the Illovo Sugar Africa Group, a leading producer of sugar and downstream products.. Situated adjacent to the Usuthu River in the south east of the country, Ubombo produces approximately 300 000 tons of sugar annually. In addition, the company produces 165 Giga Watt Hours (GWH) of electricity each year, of which about 60 GWH is supplied to the Eswatini Electricity Company. Through its E1.3 billion expansion project that was commissioned in 2010/2011, Ubombo supported the development of the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Projects (LUSIP), contributing significantly to the reduction of poverty in the Southern Lowveld of Eswatini. Small scale growers supply about 26.7% of cane to the Ubombo mill under the LUSIP project. Large scale growers supply 23.9%, 1.9% comes from medium scale growers and 37.5% from Ubombo (MCP). Ubombo is one of three sugar producers in Eswatini whose combined total sugar output of approximately 730 000 tons is marketed and distributed by the Eswatini Sugar Association (ESA). Illovo has a 60% share in Ubombo Sugar Limited, with 40% of shares held by Tibiyo Taka Ngwane. Ubombo also manages 2 418 hectares of irrigated sugar cane on behalf of Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, which supplies 10% of the cane crushed at Ubombo mill.