Thursday, March 28, 2024

Cargill to close it’s refinery in Lusaka

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Cargill has announced it will cease all operations at its soybean crush and vegetable oil refinery in Lusaka effective end of October 2018.

The difficult decision was made as the growth of illegal imports of vegetable oil from neighbouring countries continues to have a significant negative impact on the Zambian crush and vegetable oil industry.

Alongside a smaller than anticipated Zambian soybean crop this year, these factors make it no longer possible for Cargill to operate the business in an economically viable way.

According to a statement issued to the media, the closure means approximately 260 employees will be impacted, as their roles are no longer required.

The Company says it is however committed to working to minimize the impact for employees in line with the country’s labour laws and all affected employees have been notified.

From November, Cargill said it will begin mothballing the facility in a safe and responsible way and approximately 45 employees will be retained in essential roles to ensure the safety, maintenance and operational integrity of the site.

In line with the decision to cease its crush and refinery operations, Cargill said it is exploring options for the future of its business in Zambia.

In 2015 Cargill completed the acquisition of Zamanita Limited, the soybean crushing and oil refining subsidiary of Zambeef Products Plc.Cargill, which provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services in Zambia and globally, acquired Zamanita Limited as part of its expansion drive.Under the deal, Cargill acquired all of the Zamanita assets, including the Mama’s oil and Zamanita oil brands.

25 COMMENTS

    • This is what happens when you have haphazrd policies by dull lawmakers you ban importation of vegetable oil then you remove the ban instead of increasing duty on it….this is win-win for RSA industry who will now increase production thereby increasing employment opportunity in RSA.

    • Animo Farm, this happens all the time in many countries. “If HAKAINDE MENTAL were President, this wouldn’t happen and if HAKAINDE MENTAL were coach for for the Zambia National Team, Zambia could have won at least 10 FIFA World Cup trophies,” Larry Mweetwa MENTAL.

  1. EXTREMELY SAD NEWS!! SAD FOR FARMERS, SAD FOR EMPLOYEES, SAD FOR OUR COUNTRY…!!This is happening at the time President keeps singing “Value Addition..value addition”, a sign that HE HARDLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT HE TALKS ABOUT!! If smuggling has grown to the extent of chocking the industry that has been there for years, WHERE IS ZRA or WHAT ARE THEY DOING??

  2. That’s what you get when government from chiluba’s time to date have just opened doors for these foreign supermarkets to bring in everything & put on their selves. And Zambian government leaders only lament the decision to privatise companies that used to employ Zambians. The country is an open shopping place for anything brought in from anywhere.

  3. Sad. Hope it is not true. The country’s protectionism ( if at all we have), consumer protection and standards policies must be rebased. ZRA should not allow these supermarket to import and then sell tooth picks, cooking oil, shoes brushes, tomato paste, roasted ground nuts etc from other countries. ZRA should extend their vigilance as on fuel to such product as cooking oil, salt, tooth picks, shoe brushes, etc. No wonder RSA GDP is at $350m while Zambia stands at only $25m . 14 times less. Should Zambia honestly go 14 times in RSA?

  4. They simply cant compete period! Even when they monopolized the market in Zambia, was cooking oil cheaper? Competition calls for innovation, if imported oils are cheaper better for the poor Zambians. Have you seen what competition can do to stabilize prices in product like Cement? Even when the Kwacha is under pressure from the mighty dollar, cement prices have remained reasonably steady, thanks for the open markets!!!

    • Rubbish, we heard that from Chiluba and thats how all the indusries closed. There is no complate free markert economy, some protectionisim is necessary and government should do that, period!! Even Trump is at trade war with china!!

    • Right you are, Malinso. How come South African companies have bought into Supa Oil and it’s always available in the supermarkets?? They just can’t compete.

  5. Hahaha. Cargill entered Zambia as a seed company around 1992. In 1995 they left Zambia and sold their assets to Omnia. They cited a crowded market place and poor profits (beaten by Zamseed and Seedco). After their demise, PANAR came in, then Pioneer, then Dekalb, then K2, MRI and now the seed market is so competitive. A few years ago they crawled back for a new business where they had no experience. This is just a normal business failure, poor government policies notwithstanding!!

  6. That is what you get when you have a corrupt GRZ , increasing taxes , then they have to increase salaries while the bussiness environment remains expensive to work with…..doing bussiness in Zambia is very expensive.

    Expect more job losses while lungu gets a pay raise….

  7. the same situation is happening at global oil industries limited in Ndola over 90 plus earmarked to lose employment this November. govt mulikuti abulofwa bwacilamo..

  8. I wonder if Sharon has Personal problems with HH or we don’t know if He refused to marry her or him . In steady of commenting on the issue at hand but you go for HH . Mwakumanine kumo . Learn to be objective at time . if you continue to behave like this then we shall no very well that some thing is lacking, may be one fuse is brown off

  9. More companies are likely to follow as it is difficult to compete with imported goods that are relatively cheaper to produce because where they are produced the production costs such as electricity, fuel, labour, documentation costs, taxes etc are lower.

  10. Good times! More people on the streets, more commentators on Lusaka Times, more crime, more children dropping out of school, more cases of depression, more deaths. More more more! More money in your pockets!

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