Mumias Sugar Company

Mumias Sugar Company Limited is a sugar manufacturing company in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is the largest sugar manufacturer in Kenya, producing about 250,000 metric tonnes (42%) of the estimated 600,000 metric tonnes annual national output.

The company maintains its headquarters in the town of Mumias, in Kakamega County, Western Province of Kenya, near the sugar plantations and factories of the company. Mumias lies approximately 395 kilometres (245 mi), by road, northwest of Nairobi. The company maintains an operations center in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and the largest city in that country.

Mumias Sugar Company is primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of sugar. The company grows some sugar cane; its own estates provide up to 7% of its annual output. Its primary source of sugarcane is over 50,000 registered "out growers" with over 400 square kilometres (99,000 acres) under cultivation. It has also piloted the production of a hybrid high-yielding palm oil variety in areas previously thought too cool for commercial cultivation, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In addition to sugar, the company co-generates 34 Megawatts of electricity. Some of the electric power is used internally and surplus is sold into the nation electricity grid. The company also manufactures 24 million liters of ethanol annually and 20 million liters of distilled water every year.

The company was founded in 1971, with the following shareholding profile: (a) Government of Kenya (71% shareholding) (b) Commonwealth Development Corporation of the United Kingdom (17% shareholding) (c) Kenya Commercial Finance Company (5% shareholding) (d) Booker McConnel (4% shareholding) and (e) East African Development Bank (3% shareholding). The maximum quantity of sugar produced by the company was in 2005, when output amounted to 269,184 metric tonnes.