Khartoum’s exhausted factories are trying to revive as the war continues economy

In the heart of Khartoum State’s largest industrial zone, an engineer bends over a broken machine, clutching pliers and a bundle of wire, trying to bring back life to a production line destroyed by a war that has been going on for more than two years.

After the Sudanese Armed Forces regained control of the capital from the Rapid Support Forces, some of those who fled when the conflict broke out in 2023 began returning this year.

Although fighting continues in other areas, some factories have begun attempts to resume work.

“This factory used to produce integrated electrical equipment,” said Assem Al-Amin, director of CTC Group’s factory in Bahri. “We are now working on rehabilitating it, and we hope to return to what we were before.”

Huge losses

Along with repair work, companies are facing massive clean-ups.

Factories and warehouses across the capital are littered with debris and twisted metal, and rays of light filter through holes made by shells and looting in ceilings and windows.

The Sudanese economy, which was already struggling before the war, collapsed after the outbreak of fighting.

The GDP contracted by 29% in the year the war broke out, and by 13.5% in 2024, according to World Bank data.

Although more than a million people have returned to Khartoum, according to the United Nations, which has revived the local goods market, the water and electricity networks are still out of service.

“Our industrial complex suffered extensive damage, with buildings, electrical systems and vital equipment looted or destroyed,” CTC Group, Sudan’s largest agricultural supplier, said in a statement to Reuters.

She added, “We expect the production lines to return to work before the end of this year.”

The Sudanese pound lost more than 80% of its value during the conflict, and the government is struggling to raise the revenue needed to pay employee salaries and purchase basic supplies such as medicines.

The vital agricultural sector was also severely damaged, and gold smuggling operations outside the country without paying duties increased.

Muawiyah Al-Barir, head of the Sudanese Employers Union, said that the number of factories that have returned to work is still limited, and he estimated the losses of the industrial sector at about 50 billion dollars.

He added, “The biggest obstacles to restarting industrial areas are electricity, high fuel prices, and the new fees imposed on us,” while speaking from his food and beverage factory.

More than half of Sudan’s population is in need of humanitarian aid, which reflects the depth of the economic collapse.

Safaa Adam, a factory worker, said, “We lost everything after the outbreak of war. We lived in conditions we could not imagine. We ate expired food, and sometimes we could not even find it.”

But she added, “I fled the fighting, then came back and found work. Now I have a stable income again.”