About Us
Our business group has over sixty years of experience in sugar production in El Salvador, with two sugar mills: Central Izalco in the western region and Ingenio Chaparrastique in the east. We use sugarcane to produce sugar, molasses, and renewable energy. Innovation drives us as we aspire to become a world-class reference point for knowledge, sustainability, and technology. We supply sugar, molasses, and electricity to local markets, and we export premium sugar and molasses to over twenty countries worldwide. We generate over 10,000 direct jobs during harvest season, and as a Salvadoran sugar agribusiness, contribute 2.6% to GDP.
STRATEGIC BUSINESS MODEL
Our business model aims for responsible growth that ensures economic development, people's well-being, and environmental stewardship always go hand in hand.
OUR HISTORY
Building a legacy for a better El Salvador.
On February 22, 1964, the Salvadoran Sugar Company was founded with its sugar mill, Central Izalco, in western El Salvador. Siblings Tomás Regalado González and María Regalado de Mathies founded it with a vision that extended beyond creating a sugar mill to building a company committed to the well-being of its people, its communities, as well as the country's social and economic development.
María Regalado de Mathies y Tomás Regalado González
In the early years, daily milling capacity 1,500 short tons (st) of cane, which by the late seventies had increased to 5,000 st/day during harvest season.
Roberto Mathies Regalado
In the 1980s, María Regalado's son Roberto Mathies Regalado assumed the presidency of the company, and was at the helm during a period of constant challenges: the country's political-military conflict, state-decreed agrarian reform, and nationalization of the sugar trade. During this period, Central Izalco focused on producing, saving, and surviving.
The 1990s brought a quality leap toward free-market production and commercialization of value-added sugar. In 1997, Tomás Regalado Dueñas, son of Tomás Regalado González, assumed the presidency, leading the company through a period of expansion and growth.
Tomás Regalado Dueñas
The company built a sugar refinery, increased installed capacity to 13,000 st/day, and implemented a quality-based cane payment system. It also acquired new equipment and hired foreign experts and qualified national professionals for this new challenge. Another change during that period was that the board of directors began to admit professionals from outside the founding families. This opening enabled professionals with perspectives and experiences from other economic sectors and industries to bring fresh ideas and renewed energy.
Ingenio Chaparrastique, San Miguel
Despite the complexities of the early twenty-first century, progress was made on three strategic objectives: commitment to agricultural development, transformation of the company from a philanthropic model to a socially responsible one, and diversification planning. Always future-facing, the company made important investments in technology, equipment, and human resources, but most significantly, in 2005 it acquired Ingenio Chaparrastique, a sugar mill in eastern El Salvador. This consolidated us as a Group and launched a development and expansion process for sugarcane production in the country's eastern region, establishing a strong presence that has an impact on the local economy and people's quality of life to this date.
The last two decades saw modernization under the presidency of Marco Regalado Nottebohm, grandson of Tomás Regalado González, whose discipline and pursuit of excellence have driven major projects and strategic partnerships for company and team development and growth. He enhanced the business model, which integrates agricultural, industrial, and commercial activities with the company's economic growth, stakeholder well-being, and environmental conservation to ensure sustainable development of both the company and the areas around its operations.
Marco Regalado Nottebohm
He secured energy efficiency projects at both sugar mills, enabling them to supply their own operational energy and inject the surplus back into the national energy grid, powering 238,000 homes, which is 7% of the country's electricity consumption.
The company also expanded its reach, now delivering sugar and molasses to over twenty countries around the world. The company's engine is certainly the people: It generates approximately 10,000 direct jobs during harvest season. Over the past 15 years, nearly 45,000 Salvadorans in sugarcane-growing communities benefited from the "Community Allies" community engagement program.
Today, we are proud to know that the founders' vision remains as relevant as ever. Our aspiration: "To innovate and become a world-class model in knowledge, sustainability, and technology," united under one purpose: to bring good energy from our land to every home.
