Type Private Products Sugar | Founded 1969 Website Homepage | |
Industry Manufacture & Marketing of Sugar Headquarters Kinyara, Masindi, Uganda | ||
Kinyara Sugar Works, whose complete name is Kinyara Sugar Works Limited (KSWL) is a sugar manufacturer in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community.
Contents
Location
The main factories of the company are located in the town of Kinyara, in Masindi District, Western Uganda. Kinyara lies approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi), by road, west of Masindi, the nearest large town and the location of the district headquarters. This location lies approximately 208 kilometres (129 mi), by road, northwest of Kampala, the capital of Uganda and the largest city in that country. The coordinates of the factory of Kinyara Sugar Works Limited are:1°38'14.0"N, 31°36'30.0"E (Latitude:1.637222; Longitude:31.608333). In addition to the factory at Kinyara, the company maintains a corporate office in Kampala and warehouses, in Kampala and Masindi.
Overview
KSWL is the second-largest manufacturer of sugar in Uganda, producing an estimated 110,000 metric tonnes annually, accounting for approximately 31% of national output. Kakira Sugar Works, located in Kakira, Jinja District, is the nation's largest sugar producer, accounting for approximately 47% of national output. Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (SCOUL), located in Lugazi, Buikwe District, produces about 60,000 metric tonnes, about 17% of national output. Uganda's fourth-largest sugar producer is Sango Bay Estates Limited, producing 15,000 metric tonnes annually, accounting for about 5% of total ouutput in Uganda in 2011. The estimated 350,000 metric tonnes of sugar produced by the four leading sugar manufacturers in Uganda is marketed to the Eastern African countries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
History
In 1955 the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Sir Tito Owinyi applied for land from the Bunyoro Native Government and he was given the land and he opened up a Jaggery factory in Kinyara where the current factory is located he started production of jaggery in 1959 selling it to Lango, Acholi and West Nile Districts. Actually the whole of Northern Uganda relied on this product from Kinyara for their Alcohol brewing and sweetening of other products. In the late 1960s, the Government of Uganda, wrote to the Omukama of Bunyoro asking him to partner with him and the Kingdom of Bunyoro he convinced the Orukurato(Parliament) of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom to allow the government expand the factory and the plantation. The central government and Bunyoro Kingdom agreed and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the central government and Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom and the central government was to pay 30% to Bunyoro Kingdom and the Omukama of Bunyoro. And this relationship continued until 1966 when the Kingdom was abolished but the factory continued to run. The sugar plantantion and factory at Kinyara, just outside the town of Masindi in Masindi District. During the political and economic turmoil in Uganda in the 1970s and 1980s, Kinyara was adversely affected and production of sugar ceased. In the 1990s KSWL was rehabilitated by Booker Tate limited with aid/loan agreements for various funders underwritten by the Ugandan government. Sugar production resumed in 1995. Following the resumption and stabilisation of sugar production the government sold 51% shareholding in Kinyara Sugar Works Limited to the Rai Group, a Mauritius-based investment group. KSWL has recovered and the Ugandan government is planning to divest the remaining 49% it ows in the enterprise, by floating its shares in an IPO on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
In September 2011, the Uganda government sold a further 19% shareholding in KSWL to the Rai Group for US$9.1 million in cash. The sales agreement calls for the Rai Group to float the 19% shareholding it has just acquired in an IPO on the Uganda Securities Exchange after five years. Previous agreements call for the sale of the remaining 30% shareholding to the following entities: (a) 10% to the Omukama of Bunyoro (b) 10% to the KSWL outgrowers and (c) 10% to the KSWL employees. That process is ongoing.
Ownership
As of September 2011, the shareholding in KSWL is as illustrated in the table below:
Production outlook
In September 2011, the Rai Group, who own 70% of the company shares, signed commitments to (a) invest US$55 million in the factory within three years (b) increase production to at least 200,000 metric tonnes annually within the same time period and (c) use the baggase to generate 35MW of electricity, of which 22 MW will be sold to the national grid.
Subsidiaries
Kinyara Sugar Works Limited is the 100% owner of Kinyara Power Station, a 14.5MW bagasse-fired thermal electrical plant which is in the process of expanding popwer production capacity to 40MW by 2015.