Sugar millers crushed by Sh117 billion debt

Sugarcane farmers stranded before delivering them at Chemelil Sugar Company. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Crushing debt among State-owned sugar millers appears to be a permanent feature within the local sugar industry and one that has stalled development in the sector, including scuttling the numerous attempts to privatise them.

Alongside other challenges such as running archaic equipment at the factories and failure to take up better farming techniques, high indebtedness among the public millers has been among the factors that have been dragging the industry.