Mozambique: Maragra sugar mill restart delayed two years due to floods, Manhiça mayor says

The resumption of production at the Maragra sugar mill in Maputo province has once again been postponed for the next two to three years due to the impact of the recent floods on the sugarcane fields. After the floods in 2023, which destroyed a significant portion of the company’s assets, it was expected that production would resume this year. However, this will not happen because the sugarcane fields have once again been flooded.

This information was provided by the Mayor of the town of Manhiça, Luís Munguambe, in an interview with Notícias. “The fields of ‘Maragra’ are completely flooded. The sugarcane growers also have flooded fields.

It was expected that this year the company could have a campaign after the long suspension. According to the owners, the institution is in a position to resume, but there is no cane,” he explained, emphasising that with the fields submerged, production cannot restart in the coming months. “A minimum of two to three years is needed before a campaign can be considered.

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The fields will remain without sugar cane because, to this day, considerable water levels persist in the agricultural fields. All production is lost,” he added. He admitted that the loss of the sugarcane fields represents a setback for workers who were expecting to be rehired at the sugar producer, as the process will once again be delayed.

When operations at Maragra were suspended in 2023 due to the impact of the rains, the company had 57 kilometres of dykes affected, with breaches at four points. The company was also damaged in other areas, including irrigation systems, electrification, drainage, and processing equipment. At that time, the company also lost around 470,000 tonnes of sugarcane.

To address all these damages and complete the rehabilitation process, Maragra required at least 100 million dollars. Maragra Açúcar, SA is located in the Manhiça district, 80 km north of Maputo province, and recorded an annual production of 80,000 tonnes of sugar from over 460,000 tonnes of sugarcane produced in its fields. The South African Ilovo group, the largest sugar producer in Africa, owns 99 per cent of Maragra with less than 1% of the remaining shares owned by a private minority investor.

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