"The foreign exchange that the country saved was around 80 to 100 million dollars depending on the 120,000 tonnes of sugar and also the sale of ethanol, which amounted to around 18,000 cubic meters", said the official, quoted by Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA).
Among the company's biggest challenges is the reduction in sugar imports by Angola, which has an annual consumption of this product of around 300,000 tonnes.
According to RNA, which cites the official, the company expects to reach its maximum capacity – in the order of 250 thousand tons – in the period 2025/2026, and to reach the peak of production, the company invests 40 million dollars per year to promote agriculture and industry.
"All our work today is to produce sugar, ethanol and energy year after year, but also to grow so that in the next few years we reach 100 percent of the factory's capacity, producing 250,000 tons of sugar, 36,000 cubic meters of ethanol and 135 thousand megawatt hours of electricity", he said.
In turn, Fernanda Andrade, director of agro-industrial process at Biocom, informed that, last year, the company covered around 40 percent of the need for sugar consumed in the country: "In 2021, we will serve 40 percent of the market in sugar and we are ready to supply 50 percent of the ethanol market in the country".
The official, also mentioned by RNA, indicated that the need for ethanol in the country is around 45 thousand cubic meters and that the company guarantees half of that need. "We have 50 percent availability of ethanol to supply the market, so around 40,000 to 45,000 cubic meters is what the country needs today," she said.
