The first and only Angolan company to produce and commercialise sugar, ethanol, and electricity from biomass, Biocom, is set to produce 73,000 tonnes of sugar, 17,000 cubic metres of ethanol and 200.000 megawatts of electricity this year. This will break the production record since the emergence of the agro-industrial complex in the Malanje Province, in Angola.

“Biocom aims to send the sugar to every part of the country and draw up an exportation plan for this product,” said Marcos Brandão, Biocom’s Production Director,

Recently, the Cochan Group has worked on projects preparing 18,000 hectares of sugar cane, an area which will increase to 25,000 hectares by the end of the harvest year. Currently, maintenance is being carried out on the machines to kick off the largest ever sugar production initiative in Angola.

“The Biocom project is ambitious and its plan for growth before 2020 will have a significant impact on the energy security of Angola and consequently on Angolans’ lives,” said Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento, chairman of the Cochan Group.

“Biocom’s objective is to be one of the five largest producers in southern Africa, in the 2020/21 harvest,” he said further.

This investment made by the Cochan Group, one of the largest business groups in Angola, was made in partnership with Odebrecht Angola Lda and Sonangol Holdings. It employs over 2,000 people, 90 percent of which are Angolan nationals and it is estimated to produce 256,000 tonnes of sugar in 2020.

Biocom represents a strong commitment on the part of Cochan Group, which intends to take advantage of the favourable farming conditions in Angola and to diversify the country’s economy, responding to Angolans’ domestic consumption needs and supplying sugar to other African countries.

What you didn’t know about Cochan and Biocom

Cochan is one of the largest business groups in Angola. Cochan manages a diversified investment portfolio in the areas of agribusiness, distribution, energy, real estate and transportation & logistics. It employs over 13,000 people in the businesses in which it operates.

Biocom is the largest private investment in Angola outside the oil sector, and it constitutes an important asset for national development. The company is the result of the merger of three Angolan companies: Cochan (40 percent), Odebrecht Angola (40 percent) and Sonangol Holdings (20 percent):

To know more about Cochan read about “how the Cochan Group is helping to build Angola’s economy.”

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