The ailing processor resumed production two weeks ago after getting the supply from Nzoia, Butali and Muhoroni sugar factories. Molasses is the main raw material for ethanol production.
Ethanol has been the main source of income for the miller after it stopped sugar production over two years ago following a shortage of cane as farmers withheld their supplies owing to non-payment.
The miller is making 70,000 tonnes of ethanol in an eight- hour shift with the consignment sold to Kenya Medical Research Institute and companies that are manufacturing hand sanitisers.
Mumias Sugar Company #ticker:MSC has resumed ethanol production after procuring supplies of molasses from rival millers.
The ailing processor resumed production two weeks ago after getting the supply from Nzoia, Butali and Muhoroni sugar factories. Molasses is the main raw material for ethanol production.
Ethanol has been the main source of income for the miller after it stopped sugar production over two years ago following a shortage of cane as farmers withheld their supplies owing to non-payment.
“We have started processing ethanol after we got supplies of molasses and we expect the current stocks to run for some time,” said an official from Mumias.
The miller is making 70,000 tonnes of ethanol in an eight- hour shift with the consignment sold to Kenya Medical Research Institute and companies that are manufacturing hand sanitisers.
Alcoholic firms have been their major customers for years but the demand, according to Mumias, has gone down following the closure of bars when the country first imposed Covid-19 restriction measures in April.
The firm is selling a litre of ethanol at Sh395, but only retains Sh100 with the rest going to Kenya Revenue Authority as tax.
The ailing miller went into receivership last year in September with hopes that the receiver manager would have started operations in order to generate some income towards debt repayment.
The firm requires half a billion shillings to repair worn out factory machine parts and get back into operations.
The operations had been slated to resume in September when spare parts from South Africa were expected to arrive in the country.
The sugar firm sunk into financial woes that saw it default in paying both the farmers and its creditors.
KCB placed it under administration after it defaulted on loans amounting to Sh545 million.
Mumias, majority-owned by the government and for a long time Kenya’s largest miller, has been struggling even after the government pumped in about Sh3 billion.
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