Photo by: Duane Daws
JSE-listed Illovo Sugar on Wednesday announced the departure of its MD Graham Clark, who will leave the group at the end of September to pursue a new career opportunity elsewhere in Africa.
Clark, who has served on the Illovo board since 1997 and as MD since 2009, will step down from the board at the end of August but will remain on at the company for another month to ensure an orderly handover to his successor, Gavin Dalgleish.
Dalgleish currently served as the group operations director and would step up as MD on September 1, chairperson Don MacLeod said in a copy of a speech delivered at the group’s annual general meeting.
Meanwhile, MacLeod reported that there had been a positive start to the 2013/14 season on the production front and that the rand exchange rate was advantageous to earnings, but that market conditions for the sugar industry remained difficult.
He stated that low-cost imports continued to place the sugar pricing in South Africa and Tanzania under pressure and that the stronger Malawi kwacha had been driving a 5% price reduction in that market.
The global surplus of production also continued to negatively impact on the world sugar price, MacLeod said, adding that current prices were now below the cost of production for most sugar producers worldwide.
“Futures prices have fallen and are currently trading below $0.17/lb, but are testing the point at which Brazilian producers may switch to ethanol production,” he stated.
Overall, the group’s sugar production is expected to increase to around 1.9-million tons.