Tana Beles Sugar Factory, located in Awi zone of Ethiopia's Amhara region, has begun trial production. When it goes fully operational, the factory will produce two million quintals of sugar per year, it was learned.
The factory, headquartered at Fendika town, 650 km from Addis Ababa and 225 km from the regional capital Bahir Dar, is yet to be officially inaugurated.
Tana Beles Sugar has two plants, with a capacity of crashing twelve thousand tons of sugarcane per day, harvested on 75 hectares of land via irrigation from the Beles river.
When the factory reaches its optimum capacity, it is planned to produce refined sugar and generate 45 megawatts of electricity, out of which it uses 16 megawatts for its own operational purposes and sends the remaining 29 megawatts to the national power grid to generate income. It will also have the capacity to produce a high amount of molasses and ethanol.
Tana Beles Sugar Factory is hoped to help address the shortage of sugar supply in Ethiopia.
Sources: Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, FBC
