Soroti Fruits

Soroti Fruits, Ltd.

Company type	Public Private Partnership
Industry	Manufacture & Distribution of Orange and Mango Juice
Founded	2014
Headquarters	Arapai, Soroti, Uganda
Key people	Julius Martin Ekomu CEO [1]
Products	Fruit juice, fruit concentrate, packaged fruit
Total assets	US$13.4 million (2019) [2]
Number of employees	150 (2019) [3]
Website	www.softe.co.ug

Soroti Fruits Ltd. is a fruit and juice processing and distribution company of Uganda. It manages the Soroti Fruit Processing Factory, a fruit processing plant in Soroti, Uganda. ^{[4] [5]} The company is a public-private partnership, co-owned by the Ugandan government development agency Uganda Development Corporation and a Ugandan fruit growers cooperative union.

History

Initiation

The government of Uganda, with the assistance of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and in partnership with the Teso Tropical Fruit Growers Cooperative Union (TETFGCU), decided to establish a fruit processing factory in Soroti District to take advantage of the abundant citrus crop in the Teso sub-region and its high yield per tree. The government provided the land, utilities, and infrastructure. and KOICA set aside US$7.4 million for equipment and training and built the factory. ^[5] TETFGCU was to grow the fruit that the factory would process. Citrus fruit and mangoes were the principal fruits under consideration. ^[4]

Factory development

Construction of the factory began in April 2015 and was scheduled to be completed in May 2016. Installing and commissioning the machinery and equipment was anticipated from August 2016 to October 2016. The factory was scheduled to commence commercial operation in November 2016. ^{[4] [6]}

After years of delay, the factory began test runs of its production lines in May 2018, with commercial commissioning planned for August 2018. ^[7] Production is planned to be phased, starting with one 8-hour shift and gradually increasing to two and eventually three daily shifts. ^{[7] [8]}

Commercial production is expected to begin in April 2019. The factory has capacity to process six metric tonnes of fruit on a daily basis. ^[9]

On 13 April 2019, president Yoweri Museveni launched commercial production at the completed factory. At the beginning, 150 employees were hired, with the expectation to increase to 250 people when the factory runs at maximum capacity. ^[3]

In October 2019, the factory began producing mango juice under the label "Teju", short for "Teso Juice". It is expected that Teju will soon be served on the revived Uganda Airlines. ^[10]

Privatization announcement

In September 2023, following years of commercial losses, the government of Uganda decided to privatize the juice factory. It is expected that a knowledgeable and experienced investor will be able solve three major stumbling blocks that the factory faces: (a) lack of cash to buy all the fruit that the farmers produce (b) failure to process in a timely manner all the fruit that is procured. The factory needs to automate and (c) failure to sell all the juice produced by the factory. ^[11]

Move to direct producer procurments

During Q4 2023, in an effort to increase efficiency and profitability, management changed tactics and stopped procuring raw fruit from middlemen and started buying directly from the farmers. In addition, to incentivize the farmers, each farmer receives back 10 percent of the juice extracted from the fruit that he/she sells to the factory. It is not clear if the farmer receives actual fruit juice or the value of the juice in monetary payment. ^[12]

Ownership

The ownership of the factory is divided 80%-20% between the government-run Uganda Development Corporation and TETFGCU. ^[7]

Soroti Fruit Processing Factory Stock Ownership

Rank	Name of Owner	Percentage Ownership
1	Uganda Development Corporation	80.0
2	Teso Tropical Fruit Growers Cooperative Union	20.0
	Total	100.00

Factory location

The factory is located in Arapai Industrial Park, in Arapai sub-county, Soroti District, on the outskirts of the city of Soroti, approximately 299 kilometres (186 mi), by road, north-east of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. ^[13] The geographical coordinates of the fruit processing facility are: 01°46'32.0"N, 33°37'05.0"E (Latitude:1.775556; Longitude:33.618056). ^[14]

References

1. Abraham Elapu and Emmanuel Alomu (12 February 2024). "Soroti Fruit Factory To Resume Processing Mangoes-CEO". New Vision . Kampala, Uanda. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
2. FBAC (4 January 2019). "Uganda to commission US$13.4 million mango and orange fruit factory". Foodbusinessafrica.com (FBAC). Nairobi. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
3. George Asiimwe (13 April 2019). "Museveni Launches Soroti Fruit Factory". Kampala: ChimpReports Uganda. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
4. UDC (9 February 2015). "Soroti Fruit Factory Project". Kampala: Uganda Development Corporation (UDC). Retrieved 17 March 2016.
5. Felix Osujo, and James Odong (19 September 2014). "Museveni launches construction of Soroti fruit factory". New Vision . Kampala. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
6. Odyek, John (11 April 2016). "Soroti fruit factory experiences delays in completion". New Vision . Kampala. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
7. Ismail Musa Ladu, and George Muron (22 May 2018). "After years of waiting, the fruit factory is now ready". Daily Monitor . Kampala. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
8. Nassali, Fatiah (17 May 2018). "Teso fruit factory set to open in August". Kampala: NilePost Uganda. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
9. Geoffrey Mutegeki (9 April 2019). "Museveni to commission Soroti fruit factory". New Vision . Kampala. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
10. Anthony Wesaka (24 October 2019). "Teso Juice To Grace Uganda Airlines Flights". Daily Monitor . Kampala. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
11. Simon Peter Emwamu (21 September 2023). "Govt to privatise Soroti Fruit Factory". Daily Monitor . Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
12. Eddy Enuru (4 December 2023). "Soroti Fruit Factory resumes orange crushing". Nile Post Uganda. Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
13. Google (14 November 2021). "Road Distance Between Soroti Fruit Processing Plant And Kampala In Uganda" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
14. Google (14 November 2021). "Location of Soroti Fruit Processing Factory" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved 14 November 2021.

External links

• New fruit factory to change farmers’ fortunes in Teso
• Progress at Soroti Fruit Factory being constructed at Arapai by UDC in collaboration with KOICA

01°46′32″N33°37′05″E / 1.77556°N 33.61806°E / 1.77556; 33.61806