ZAMBIA – Global Industries Limited (GIL) has invested US$20 million in a soya bean processing plant to double edible oil production capacity to 1,000 tonnes a day.
The latest financing into the state-of-the-art soya bean processing machinery is an addition to the US$14 million investment made in 2016.
GIL chief executive officer Malolan Sampath said the investment, which signifies the firm’s growing path, is exploring avenues of adding value to the economy.
“In December last year, we invested an additional US$20 million into the soya bean crushing plant to increase production capacity to 1000 tonnes per day from 500 tonnes,” Mr Sampath said when Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe toured the newly-installed facility.
He said small-scale farmers’ supply of the soya beans is 350,000 tonnes a year but GIL is targeting more farmers countrywide to buy the produce to meet factory demands.
Mr Sampath said the GIL has communicated with the small-scale farmers’ body on the supply needs of the soya beans and have set competitive prices.
This investment follows another that was made in July 2017, when the Global Group of Companies commissioned a US$60 million edible oil soya bean crushing processing plant in Ndola to enable its soya meal product to penetrate the export market.
Company chief executive officer Malolan Sampath said the company had trained Zambians who were managing the high technology modern plant.
“The proudest part of Global Industries’ soya bean crushing plant is not only the superior technology and latest state-of-the-art equipment, but also the fact that it is run completely by Zambians,” he had said.
Zambia Daily Mail
