Luanda - Angola now has a food oil processing capacity of 1,300 tons per day, with the inauguration of a new factory, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Rui Minguês de Oliveira, said Wednesday.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Food Oil Factory - Refitec, which has the capacity to refine and process 500 tons of palm, soybean and sunflower oil per day, the minister said the overall volume in the country should reach 1,700 tons per day, with another factory of this kind coming on stream in Luanda soon.

According to the minister, processing cooking oil locally reduces imports and strengthens the national currency, as well as creating skilled jobs.

Although the step taken with the inauguration of this unit is very important, Rui Minguês admitted that work must be done to ensure that, as soon as possible, a final link is added to the chain of industrialization of edible oils.

“We need initiatives in the private sector to invest in increasing the production capacity of grains and oilseeds, encouraging their production in our fields, by our families and agricultural companies, so that we become completely self-sufficient in this value chain,” he noted.

He said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, will promote the necessary measures for this dehydration, progressively replacing oil and grain imports.

The new industrial unit has the capacity to process 1 million liters a day.

It has raw material tanks that store 22,000 tons, equivalent to 45 days of production, and three packaging lines capable of delivering up to 18,000 one-liter packages per hour.

The project was set up 700 meters from the Port of Luanda, on a site used for industrial activities during the colonial period and has created 850 direct jobs, employing 300 young people. Construction began in 2023 and production started at the end of last year. ART/AMP