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Who Are We?




ILLOVO SUGAR (SOUTH AFRICA) (Pty) Ltd (Illovo SA) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods, with its operations including the cultivation of sugar cane and production of raw, brown, refined sugar, and syrup.




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A Legacy of Sweet Success




Our business origins trace back to 1889 in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with the registration of Reynolds Brothers Limited. This company served as the forerunner to CG Smith Sugar Limited, founded by sugar agent and entrepreneur Sir Charles George Smith.




In 1891, Sir Smith set in motion a series of events that would see sugar operations within the CG Smith Group ultimately culminate in the establishment of Illovo Sugar Africa (PTY) Ltd. Illovo Sugar Africa (PTY) Ltd has since transitioned into ABF Sugar, which is a diversified sugar and sugar derived products division of Associated British Foods plc. 




Listed on the JSE Limited in 1992, the CG Smith Group took on “Illovo” as its own brand name at the dawn of South African democracy in 1994 and changed the Group’s name to Illovo Sugar Limited. In 2010, the legal entity Illovo Sugar South Africa (Pty) Ltd was established.




We have become one of the country’s most diversified agri-processing businesses, and we are South Africa’s third largest sugar producer, supplying domestic and international markets with quality sugar and sugar-related products.


 

Thriving Communities




Illovo's Responsibility to Build Shared Value Over Time


Market

We are committed to consistently serving our customers and consumers quality products in the format they require and at the price they can afford.

Community

Collaborative and cooperative stimulation of economic activity, hand-in-hand with the people, civic structures and government of our local communities, strengthens the growth and development of our communities.

Industry

Building on our 135-year success in sugar and downstream product manufacture, while actively encouraging innovative commercial opportunities aligned to our core expertise, is a powerful combination invited by the South African government to unlock national growth.

Agriculture

Creating value from local agricultural resources in a responsible, sustainable manner provides the OPPORTUNITY for multiple stakeholders to share in the beneficial outcomes of commercially orientated community projects. Through Illovo’s transfer of knowledge and its ability to facilitate community access to scarce resources, sugarcane becomes a key crop contributing to rural economic growth.

RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE...

We strive to build a sustainable future for our communities, businesses, customers and employees. To help us achieve this, we have transitioned to validated science based emission reduction targets...

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OUR PURPOSE

ILLOVO IMPACTING LIVES

Committed to serving our customers’ and consumers’ needs through our deep commercial and ‘route to market’ insights in Africa, expert sales and operations planning and a world-class logistics team.

Focussed on diversification opportunities to widen our new business growth pipeline and grow our downstream value.

Co-generates electricity from renewable resources at our sugar factories to cater for almost all of our

own power needs and in some locations, exports power to national grids in the countries where we operate on a commercial basis.

In the latest independent environmental, social and economic study undertaken in the 2020/21 financial year, it was estimated that Illovo’s total economic impact across its six countries of operation stood at R28.6 billion.