Les Sucreries du Kivu, a sugar factory in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has resumed operations after 26 years of inactivity. In a recent statement, the Congolese Ministry of Industry informed that the project cost $5.85 million to resurrect, including $3 million in loans and subsidies. The same source predicts the plant’s official commission in the coming weeks.

The factory, now called SUKI, is already running and has produced its first bags of sugar. Also, the revival helped generate 1,400 direct jobs, out of 3,000 targeted. 

The money spent on the project helped expand cultivated areas to 700 hectares. 

Reviving Les Sucreries du Kivu is part of the government’s broader strategy to boost economic activities in the unsafe parts of the country, where extremists and warmongers have been recruiting young people. The revival project also aims to reinforce the DRC’s economic sovereignty by cutting sugar imports, from Rwanda and Tanzania especially. 

However, the government's sugar strategy has yet to be defined. Several successive decisions have prohibited the import of this commodity in a market where supply is lower than demand. Since its establishment in 1975, SUKI has gone through several phases, including periods of bankruptcy. It also welcomed key private shareholders, including Tanzania’s Kagera Sugar.

This article was initially published in French by Georges Auréole Bamba

Edited in English by Ola Schad Akinocho