Draft:Sugarcane Development & By-Products Company

The Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company is an Iranian holding company that operates in the field of sugar production and its by-products. This company is located in Khuzestan Province. The Sugarcane Development Company has seven subsidiaries with a total production capacity of 700,000 tons of sugar per year. The names of these seven subsidiaries are: Salman Farsi, Hakim Farabi, Imam Khomeini, Amir Kabir, Da'bal Khazaei, Mirza Kuchak Khan, and Dehkhoda. In 2021, the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro-Industry Co. was taken from its private owner by a court ruling, and its management was handed over to the Sugarcane Development and By-Products holding company.

History
Considering Iran's need for sugar, the Sugar Council was formed in Iran in 1983. Through studies carried out by the Sugar Studies Fund from 1984 to 1986, the necessity of establishing the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Due to Iran's need for sugar and to prevent its import, the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company was established in 1990 in Ahvaz. Based on a resolution by Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Ministry of Agriculture was obligated to establish 7 sugarcane agro-industrial units on lands with an area of 84,000 hectares to achieve self-sufficiency in supplying Iran's sugar. It also had to build sugar refineries, livestock feed plants, medium-density fiberboard (MDF) factories, paper mills, and required biotechnology plants such as yeast and alcohol with suitable capacity.

Salman Farsi
The Salman Farsi Agro-Industry Company is one of the subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products holding company. This company is located on an area of about 12,000 hectares in the lands east of the Karun River and 40 kilometers southwest of the Ahvaz-Abadan road. The Salman Farsi Company has the capacity to produce 100,000 tons of sugarcane in each cultivation season and 100,000 tons of raw sugar.

Hakim Farabi
The Hakim Farabi Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company is one of the eight subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company, established in 1994. The Hakim Farabi Company is located at kilometer 30 of the Ahvaz-Abadan road, east of the Karun River. The area of its cultivated lands is about 15,000 hectares, and its main objectives are sugarcane cultivation, production of raw sugar and refined (white) sugar, livestock feed, and paper.

Imam Khomeini
The Imam Khomeini Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company is one of the eight subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company. It is located in the Shuaybiyeh region of Shushtar County, between the Shatit River (a branch of the Karun River) and the Dez River, 30 kilometers south of Shushtar County. The approximate area of the company is 15,300 hectares, bordered by the northern hills of Shuaybiyeh Plain to the north, the Dez River to the west, the Shatit River to the east, and the lands of Dehkhoda Agro-Industry Company to the south. The length of its cultivated lands is about 34 kilometers, with a width ranging from a minimum of 5 kilometers to a maximum of 15 kilometers.

Amir Kabir
The Amir Kabir Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company, one of the eight subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company, is located at kilometer 45 of the Ahvaz-Khorramshahr road. The gross area of this agro-industry's lands is 15,000 hectares, and the net area is 12,000 hectares. The Amir Kabir Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company was inaugurated in 2000. This company produces raw (brown) sugar and refined (white) sugar.

Da'bal Khazaei
The Da'bal Khazaei Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company is one of the subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products holding company operating in the field of sugarcane products. This company is located on an area of 12,000 hectares in the lands east of the Karun River and 25 kilometers southeast of the Ahvaz-Abadan road. This company has a production capacity of 100,000 tons of raw (Brown) sugar and 175,000 tons of refined (white) sugar per year.

Mirza Kuchak Khan
The Mirza Kuchak Khan Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company is one of the eight subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products holding company operating in the field of sugarcane cultivation and its products. This company is located 75 kilometers southwest of Ahvaz, between the Karun River and the Ahvaz-Khorramshahr road. The lands of this company were recaptured from the Iraqi army along with Khorramshahr during the Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas in May-June 1982.

Dehkhoda
The Dehkhoda Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company is one of the subsidiaries of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products holding company. This company is located on an area of 11,369 hectares in the north of Ahvaz, between the Andimeshk road and the Karun River, at kilometer 23 of the Doghagholeh road. The production capacity of this company is 100,000 tons of raw (Brown) sugar, 175,000 tons of refined (white) sugar, 30 to 38,000 tons of molasses and its products, and 330,000 tons of bagasse. The Dehkhoda Company was established with investments from Bank Saderat and Bank Melli.

Haft Tappeh
The Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company was a national project under the ownership of the Ministry of Agriculture since its establishment. This company was inaugurated on December 9, 1961 in the presence of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Ali Amini (Prime Minister), and Arsanjani (Minister of Agriculture). On the December 22, 1975, the articles of association for the Haft Tappeh Sugar Company affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, with an initial capital of 4 billion Rials, were approved by the National Consultative Assembly. According to the law, the government was obliged to valuate the company and sell up to 99% of its shares. After the Islamic Revolution, the Haft Tappeh Sugar Company was handed over to the National Iranian Industries Organization, and the company was again fully controlled by the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade. Years later, this company was entrusted to the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO). The reduction in sugar import tariffs caused huge losses for this company. In 2015, the Iranian Privatization Organization transferred the Haft Tappeh Sugar Company through a deal to two private companies named Zeus and Aryak. The value of this deal was 2,910 billion Rials, but the buyers only paid 60 billion Rials in cash, and the remaining debt was installmentized over eight annual installments.

From the very beginning, there were doubts and suspicions about the manner of privatization of the company. The problems of Haft Tappeh workers also began after the privatization of the company, to the extent that their salaries were always paid with a few months' delay after privatization. This led to the start of workers' protests.

After several years of workers' protests, finally some representatives of the Tehran parliament reacted to the protests of Haft Tappeh Company workers.

Eventually, September-October 2021, the management of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company was handed over by the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran to the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company. Since then, the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company has become the eighth sugarcane agro-industrial unit under the Sugarcane Development and By-Products holding company.

Shareholders
40% of the shares of the Sugarcane Development and By-Products Company belong to Bank Saderat Iran, 40% to Bank Melli Iran, and 20% to the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad representing the government.

Sugarcane Development and COVID-19
The Sugarcane Development Company has the largest alcohol production company in Iran. This company supplies a significant portion of Iran's disinfectant producers during the coronavirus outbreak.