AB Sugar is one of the largest sugar producers in the world. Employing more than 42,000 employees, operating in 10 countries, the company produces around four million tonnes of sugar annually. We have diversified geographically with sugar operations in Africa, Spain and both north and south China in addition to the UK.
AB Sugar China has majority control in four cane sugar factories in the Guangxi Province in China, where production has risen to 500,000 tonnes following an investment programme. In addition, we have completed a further 'green field' cane sugar factory with 120,000 tonnes capacity, and have commissioned a new refinery. We also operate 7 beet sugar factories in northern China where we have plans to raise production.
Our Spanish business, Azucarera operates three beet sugar factories in northern Spain and one in the south of the country, where we have constructed a cane refinery.
British Sugar processes the whole UK sugar beet crop to produce more than 1 million tonnes of sugar annually.
In September 2006 AB Sugar acquired 51% of
Illovo Sugar Limited. Illovo is the largest cane sugar producer in Africa and one of the world's lowest cost producers. It is the leading producer in South Africa and also has operations in Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Tanzania and Mozambique. It currently produces around 6.3 million tonnes of sugar cane and around 1.6 million tonnes of sugar.
AB Sugar is involved in sugar trading through
Czanikow Group, which has been in the sugar business since 1861. Czarnikow operates from its head office in London and operates a network of 10 regional offices to service clients and customers globally. It has a first-hand presence in all major sugar markets of the world with commercial involvement in physical transactions in excess of 8 million tonnes of sugar each year.