Brazil to Invest in Fruit Processing

7 July 2011

Maputo — Brazil is willing to finance the installation of a fruit processing factory in Mozambique, according to the Minister of Industry and Trade, Armando Inroga.

Inroga added that Brazil will also fund a factory producing metallic packaging for drinks and foodstuffs. These projects, the Minister added, will solve the problem of importing fruit drinks, which currently costs Mozambique between 20 and 35 million dollars a year.

Although Mozambique produces large amounts of fruit (notably citrus fruits, mangoes, guavas, passion fruit, paw-paws, bananas, pineapples and lychees), there are only a couple of small scale fruit processing plants in the country. The vast majority of fruit juice consumed in Mozambique is imported from South Africa.

The packaging will be based on aluminium, and this factory will be located in Maputo province, which is home to 65 per cent of Mozambique’s industries, many of which require packaging which they currently mostly import.

The fruit processing factory will be built in the southern province of Inhambane, which is a major producer of citrus fruits.

Inroga said that on 21 July, a delegation of Mozambican businessmen will arrive in Maputo, and they hope to set up joint ventures with Mozambican businesses that will then run the two projects.

“We hope that the technical conditions will then be created to advance with the establishment of the factories”, said Inroga.

He guaranteed that the government has already identified the land that will be made available for the Brazilian investors and their Mozambican partners.

“We hope that the Mozambican private sector will be interesting in forming a company with its Brazilian counterparts, who have already expressed their willingness to invest in Mozambique”, said the Minister.

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