Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed sugar producer, Hippo Valley Estates Limited managed to increase cane and sugar output during the first quarter (Q1) to June 2021 compared to previous year following an early start to harvesting of the crop.
Last year, harvesting was disrupted by the wet spells in December leading to carryover of the cane into the current financial year.
Cane harvested by the company marginally grew by 3 percent to 283,499 tonnes from 275,293 tonnes prior year while that from private farmers sprung 94 percent to 270,024 tonnes from 139,297 tonnes.
Canes milled were 34 percent higher than prior year while sugar produced by the company went up 35 percent from prior year to 66,664 tonnes.
“Cane deliveries from the Company’s plantations (miller-cum-planter) and private farmers in particular were above same period prior year having benefited from prior year carryover cane and an earlier start to the harvesting season which began on 20 April (2020: 5 May).
”The early season start will in the long term reposition the crop and prevent the previously experienced disruptive impact of harvesting during wet spells in December. Consequently, sugar production for the quarter under review increased from same period prior year with a satisfactory factory performance, following a successful off crop maintenance program,” the company said.
The Company’s share of total industry sugar sales volume grew to 98 718 tonnes from 98 572 tonnes in 2020 and for the quarter under review was 52.1 percent from 47.9 percent prior year.
Meanwhile, expansion works on the 4 000 hectares cane development project (Project Kilimanjaro) remain suspended due to delays in concluding funding arrangements with financial institutions pending further clarity on land tenure, both of which are being progressed.
The project which is being undertaken by Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe in partnership with Government and local banks has seen a total of 2 700 hectares of virgin land being bush cleared and ripped and 562 hectares planted to sugarcane in prior years.
In the recently concluded cropping season, Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe delivered some 7 000 tons of maize (grown on temporary fallow sugar cane fields) to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), significantly improving food security in the region.
