Drought and frost close mill
Umzimkulu cane deliveries will be diverted to the Sezela mill.
ADVERSE weather conditions last season have resulted in the temporary closure of the Umzimkulu Sugar Mill.
According to David Howells, the managing director of Illovo Sugar (South Africa) Limited, KwaZulu-Natal experienced significantly below average rainfall during the 2014 sugar milling season.
Severe frost in the Midlands last winter had damaged parts of the company’s cane supply area, too. These factors had severely affected expected cane supplies for the forthcoming season.
To effect optimum asset utilisation, a decision had been taken not to open the Umzimkulu mill in the 2015 sugar milling season and to divert all Umzimkulu cane deliveries to Illovo’s Sezela mill for processing, he said.
The additional transport cost of diverting this cane to Sezela would be be borne by Illovo.
