Nicaragua Sugar Estates

Stock performance

History

Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited was organized in 1890 by Genoese-born merchant Francisco Alfredo Pellas and partners to build the Ingenio San Antonio sugar mill near Chichigalpa, which became one of the largest in Central America and the foundation of the Pellas family's business group.

Business model

The company grows and processes sugarcane into sugar and molasses, produces ethanol, and generates electricity from cane residues (bagasse), which it sells to the national grid.

Market position

Ingenio San Antonio is the largest sugar mill in Nicaragua, a country where sugar is one of the main agricultural exports.

Country impact

The mill is a major rural employer in western Nicaragua, but the sugar-growing region around Chichigalpa has also been at the center of international attention over an epidemic of chronic kidney disease among cane workers, which has prompted research and changes to working conditions.