President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday commissioned a US$20 million cooking oil refinery plant in Seke District, Mashonaland East Province.
The plant is operated by a Tanzanian registered firm, Mount Meru Millers, and will process soya beans, sunflower and cotton into edible oil.
This is expected to benefit the local community in terms of employment creation as well as providing a market for their agricultural produce.
In his address, President Mnangagwa said the establishment of the plant shows that the Government’s “Zimbabwe is open for Business” stance is bearing fruit. He said:
In this respect, the investment by the Mount Meru Group is further evidence of the prevailing conducive environment for doing business.
Edible oils are an indispensable nutritional resource for human health and are a key dietary item around the world.
They are a key source of fats, making them the second most important food group after cereals.
As such the coming on board of Mount Meru Millers brings to nine the number of edible oil processing plants in our economy.