ZAMBIA – Superior Milling Company Limited anticipates double maize procurement to 80,000 metric tonnes from farmers for the 2015-16 marketing season.
Company managing director Peter Cottan said the increase by 40,000 metric tonnes from last season has been prompted by the increase to the new milling plant that the company will be commissioning next month.
Mr Cottan said in an interview on Thursday that the milling plant will have a daily capacity to grind 240 tonnes of mealie-meal.
“Superior Milling is, on February 15, commissioning a new milling plant. This expansion means an increase in the capacity of mealie-meal production and will cost K20 million,” he said.
The plant has the state-of-the-art technology with an addition of silos that will supply 5,000 tonnes of grain to the plant and this will improve the capacity and quality of mealie-meal production.
“This is a great expansion in Superior Milling because it will help reduce the shrinkage and losses incurred [in the production process] and that maize is more secure in a silo than in bags.
“The new milling plant will have a production capacity of 240 tonnes of mealie- meal per day, which is double the capacity of the old plant,” he said. Mr Cottan said the company also intends to rehabilitate the old milling plant to run simultaneously when the capacity increases.
“This will add another 120 tonnes, which translates into a capacity of 360 tonnes per day for both milling plants…This will make the firm one of the largest milling companies in the country,” he said.
The company plans to maximise the local market through marketing and branding of its products to provide quality in the country and intends to start exporting to countries within the southern African region.
“We are already exporting to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola and we are planning to improve the market in the two countries, but our priority is the local market,” he said.
January 28, 2015; https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=18383
