A group of local investors is set to build a new Sh1.5 billion sugar factory in Tinderet, Nandi County, joining the growing pipeline of greenfield projects being mooted in the agricultural sub-sector.
Disclosures showed that the investors plan to build the Tinderet Sugar Factory in the Soba location of Tinderet sub-county.
“The project objectives include the installation of a 1,250 TCD (tonnes of cane per day) sugar mill (expandable to 2,500 TCD) and four megawatts of captive power. Mill white or mill brown sugar production from the initial installed plant capacity of 1,250 TCD will be approximately 138 MT (metric tonnes)/day and 3,250 MT/month,” said regulatory filings.
The investors said the factory would rely on existing surplus cane in Nandi where farmers with the potential of 10,000 acres have been identified.
“The operational phase of the project will involve the production of mill brown sugar with bagasse and molasses being produced as by-products. Other by-products will include filter mud and boiler ash. Main inputs will be sugar cane, water, bagasse and electricity,” said the company.
“The by-products generated from the sugar plant, such as bagasse will be utilised in the mill to run co-gen power plant, and also excess of it can eventually be used to make charcoal briquettes, fertiliser or making paper or chipboards (expansion into other industry).”
The planned Tinderet factory joins a list of greenfield projects by investors eyeing a pie of Kenya’s sugar industry that has an annual production deficit of about 200,000 metric tonnes of the sweetener. The deficit is plugged by imports mainly from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
The bulk of the greenfield sugar factory projects valued at more than Sh15 billion fall within Narok, Nandi, and Kericho counties - a conspicuous shift from the traditional cane-growing zones in western Kenya such as Nyando, Mumias, Migori, Homa Bay, and Kakamega.
For example, a consortium of investors from Europe and Asia is set to build a new Sh1.5 billion sugar factory in Rangwe, Homa Bay County.
The planned Muwariziki Sugar Factory in the Genga location of Rangwe sub-county will have an initial capacity to mill 1,250TCD and include a cogeneration power plant of three megawatts and ethanol and a distillery of 20 kilo litres per day capacity.
Another investor is setting up a Sh4.37 billion Angata Sugar Mills in Moyoi in Transmara scheduled to commence production in September 2025.
Transmara is also set to host a Sh1.5 billion Soit Sugar Factory within the Olomismis area. A plan showed that the Soit factory will have a milling capacity of 1,250 tonnes of TCD, expandable to 2,500, and with the potential to generate 3 MW of captive power.
In the operational phase of the project, Soit will produce mill brown sugar with bagasse and molasses as by-products. Other by-products will include filter mud and boiler ash.
In Nandi County, investors have lined up a Sh357.8 million Tiryo Sugar Mill in the Tinderet area along the Nandi Hills- Kimwani Road with a capacity of 1,000 TCD.
A project blueprint showed the factory will start with a milling capacity of 800TCD and will include a 45 kilolitre per day distillery and a 5MW co-generation plant.
The neighbouring Kericho is set to host West Valley Sugar Company whose Sh2.8 billion factory is scheduled to start trial runs in August this year with the hope of official commissioning in October.
The West Valley factory will have an initial installed capacity of 1,250 TCD, which would be doubled to 2,500 tonnes. It will cover the Soin-Sigowet, Ainamoi, Kipkelion, Tinderet, Muhoroni, and Nyando sugar belts. The project is a subsidiary of the Kipchimchim Group of Companies, a family-owned business with over 20 multisectoral companies under its stable.
In Alego, Siaya County, investor Seal Sugar Limited has lined up a new factory with an initial capacity of 1,250 TCD, which will be expanded to 2,500 later.
