Angolan bioenergy company Companhia de Bioenergia de Angola (Biocom) will be producing at full capacity in 2021, the Deputy Director of the company, Luis Bagorro Junior said Thursday in Malanje.

The Deputy Director said the company currently covers an area of 81,000 hectares, of which 71,000 are devoted to agriculture and 11,000 to environmental protection and said some sugarcane had been harvested since the beginning of the experimental phase.

Biocom currently has 14,000 hectares planted with sugarcane and has already cleared an area of 20,000 hectares, for a total of 38,000 hectares to produce 2.2 million tons of sugarcane. This amount of sugarcane will allow the factory to operate at full capacity producing 256,000 tons of sugar and 28,000 cubic metres of ethanol.

Speaking to the members of a delegation of the diplomatic corps accredited in Angola during a visit to the factory, Bagorro Junior said the company would only supply a portion of the sugar consumed in the country, estimated at 600 million tons, but said that fully supplying the Angolan market would come at a later stage.

Biocom, which is part of the Capanda Agro-industrial Hub, is a partnership between the Angolan State, through the National Agency for Private Investment (ANIP) and Sonangol Holding, with a 20 percent stake, and Angolan group Damer and Brazil’s Odebrecht, each with 40 percent. (macauhub/AO)