Mining & Trade News

The Malawi Government is encouraging investors to invest in growing of crops for biofuel production as the country is slugging behind in integration of biofuels into its energy systems despite international forecast on the energy source looking exquisite for the next 20 ears.
Ministry of Energy Spokesperson Upile Kamoto told Agribusiness Review that Malawi’s biofuel industry is mainly dominated by Ethanol Company of Malawi (Ethco) in Nkhota-kota and Presscane in Chikhwawa. The two companies utilize molasses, a bye product in sugar production to produce approximately 20 million litres of ethanol annually.
Kamoto said: “The two companies produce three grades of ethanol namely fuel ethanol, extra neutral alcohol and rectified alcohol, it is exported and also used locally for blending with petroleum products.”
“The country also produces biodiesel from Jathropha but on a small scale. Toleza farm in Balaka district initiated a Jathropha farming program in 2012 with the aim of producing biodiesel to fuel their farm equipment such as tractors.”
According to Malawi’s National Energy Policy 2018 (NEP 2018), biodiesel constitutes only 4% of transport energy which is mainly blended with petroleum fuels at 20:80 for petrol and 9:91 for diesel.
Kamoto said: “Production of bioethanol and other biofuels is one of the policy priority areas in the NEP 2018. Under this priority area, the government intends to support, encourage and promote the production of bioethanol and biodiesel for blending or standalone use in vehicles as well as cooking and lighting.”
“The government intends to do this by increasing the supply of biodiesel and bioethanol, promotion of fiscal incentives for bioethanol and biodiesel production as well as implementing socially and environmentally responsive large-scale bioethanol and biodiesel projects.”
Kamoto said with the Malawi Government promoting private sector participation in the biofuels industry, a number of investors are already showing interest in becoming players in this industry.
“Engagements with them are currently underway and government is providing necessary support and policy direction,” she said.
She explained that government is supporting, encouraging and promoting the production of bioethanol and biodiesel for blending or stand-alone use in vehicles, as well as for domestic use such as cooking and lighting.
“The Malawi government has the NEP 2018 as well as the Malawi Renewable Energy Strategy that promote the production and use of biofuels such as ethanol. Currently, the policy has made it mandatory for bio-ethanol and bio-diesel to be blended with petroleum fuels,” she said.
Kamoto also said the Ministry is, among other things, promoting production of bio-fuels through appropriate pricing incentives, and recently the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) facilitated a review of the ethanol pricing framework for biofuels.
“Previously, ethanol pricing was pegged to the price of petrol despite different cost structures. Currently, with fuel ethanol pricing in place, the industry is assured of fully recovering all production costs, overheads and distribution costs,” she said.
Kamoto further said government intends to promote the biofuel industry by researching into use of Ethanol Driven Vehicles (EDVs), promoting awareness campaigns on the uptake of new technologies such EDVs and also promoting importation of conversion kits for existing petrol-powered vehicles.
PressCane, an ethanol distillery company which is a subsidiary of the conglomerate Press Corporation Limited began its operations in June 2004. Its plant is located in Chikhwawa about 30 km north of Nchalo (55km south of Blantyre) and employs 118 Malawians including management.
The company’s Chief Operations Officer Bryson Mkhomaanthu explained that Malawi could do better to promote local production of biofuels as the industry is growing at a slow pace due to lack of feed stock- molasses as a case of PressCane Limited.
Mkhomaanthu said; “Current demand of fuel ethanol is over 40 million litres per annum while we produce 18 million litres per annum leaving a great deficit to cover.”
He, therefore, disclosed that the company has initiated expansion plans whereby it is to invest in sugarcane production to cushion feed stock shortage as it only relies on molasses obtained from sugar processing firms.
“We would like to start producing own sugarcane in the next three years and we are to increase production from 18 million litres to 27 million litres per year in three years
Mkhomaanthu also said there is need to promote sugarcane production through smallholder farmers and reviewing of tax measures to assist manufacturers improve on the profit margin from biofuel sales.
The main products of PressCane are fuel ethanol also known as anhydrous alcohol (AA 99.5% v/v) and industrial alcohol (rectified spirit 95.0 – 97.0% v/v). Sugar cane molasses are procured from Illovo in Nchalo and fermented into ethanol. The high quality of the ethanol is enhanced by the new molecular sieve dehydration (MSDH) technology installed in the distillery. In 2014, EthCo and Presscane initiated the project dubbed Raw Materials (RAMA). In their drive to increase ethanol production, the companies engaged smallholder sugarcane farmers to grow sugarcane with the aim of increasing the production of molasses.
Increased molasses production would ultimately mean increased feedstock for ethanol production thereby enabling the companies to operate their factories at full capacity. However, the long term plan is to use the sugarcane as feedstock for ethanol production, on top of the molasses from the sugarcane factories.
Global statistics indicate that Biofuels Market is expected to grow at a rate of not less than 8% during 2020-2025 propelled by the increased demand for secure, sustainable, and clean energy supply across the globe.
On account of higher mandates for biofuel blending in automotive fuels and increasing governments’ support for eco-friendly alternatives, the global consumption of biofuel is expected to further grow at a significant level during the forecast period.
The growing environmental need is to draw upon cleaner, renewable, sustainable energy sources to meet the ever-increasing demand for fuel.
Biofuels thus ethanol and biodiesel represent the majority share of renewables in global energy demand for road transport. Demand for bioenergy in the transportation sector is driven by blending mandates in significant economies and by sustained fuel use around the world.
From the 1980s, Malawi has been producing sugarcane ethanol and blending it at proportions of 10-25% with gasoline, in response to the 1970s energy crises and the higher costs of importing refined oil products into the landlocked country.

Despite ongoing efforts by the government to diversify into other potential sectors such as mining and tourism as major sources of foreign exchange, the Tobacco Commission (TC) says the future of tobacco, which is Malawi’s green gold, is still bright.
The Commission says there is lack of understanding on the performance of the industry by members of community who think the industry is dying.
TC’s CEO Dr. Joseph Chidanti Malunga told Agribusiness Review in an interview that there is need for a massive awareness campaign to deal with negative public perceptions about Malawi’s tobacco industry specifically on the issues of utilization of child labour and the world wide anti-smoking lobbying.
“There are a lot of things that people do not understand, that is including those who do research in this country because they just look at the tobacco industry without understanding to what extent these issues are affecting it ,” he said.
Malunga clarified that the anti-smoking lobby is not a major problem for Malawi’s tobacco industry as the existing buyers are still there, and more buyers are also entering the industry.
He said Malawi is also successfully fighting child labour in the industry with the country’s tobacco industry demanding child labor and abuse free strategies by farmers.
“The issue that is rocking the tobacco industry now is not anti-smoking lobby as being propagated but the issue is that everyone wants to produce tobacco without violation of human rights,” said Malunga adding currently the TC is working towards establishment of laws that will protect the farmer, buyer and laborer.
The bill that is under formulation is slated to incorporate the respect of human rights, provision of safe water and first aid medical facilities and other essentials right in tobacco farms.
Malunga said when the new legislation is operationalized, TC officials will be authorized to be inspecting the farms to ensure that no child labor is involved, the working environment is safe, and availability of other essentials for successful farming activities.
He said operationalization of such a law will boost the industry as well as bring back the glory it used to have in the past.
“In a nutshell, we want to eliminate all forms of human rights abuse in the tobacco industry,” he said.
Malunga also said there is growing negative perception towards the tobacco market prices with stakeholders speculating that the prices offered at the market are very low.
He, therefore, advised stakeholders to make a thorough analysis of the how the prices are trending by comparing the prices with the farmers’ inputs.
“When talking about the prices, let us all be looking at what the farmer is putting into his or her farming,” he said.
He explained that the input in terms of money and human resource plus quality of the output and the Malawi Kwacha exchange rate determines the deserving market price between the buyer and the seller.
But an agricultural expert Tamani Nkhono suggests that the country needs to go back to how the people used to do tobacco farming in 1980s, as some measures that were restructured were very fundamental.
Nkhono also advised authorities to accept the fact that the tobacco industry is dying in the country and find alternatives while pressing for the sustainability of the industry.
“We need to accept that the industry does not have a bright future in the country because if you look at the current trends, there is a reduction by at least 1% in the smoking rate due to the anti-smoking lobby,” he said.
He said this has affected sales of Malawi’s main tobacco variety, Burley, which is used for cigarette production as the framework convention on the anti-smoking lobby is targeting additives in cigarettes.
Nkhono also advised authorities to take a close look at the quality of the leaf that the country produces and sells to foreign buyers in comparison with the quality produced in other countries.
He said if the country improves on quality of the leaf, it will be attracting more buyers thus beating competition from other producing countries.
“Malawi has to try as much as possible to maintain or increase its market share by coming up with other interventions. We need to protect the economy by controlling who is supposed to be growing the crop and the quality. Not like it is the case now when there is chaos in the industry,” he said.
Malawi has a long history of tobacco production tracing it from 1920s. Currently, the country is among 10 leading producers of tobacco.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) targets the smoking rate to drop by almost 50% as of 2030 as a result of its anti-smoking lobby.
Statistics from WHO indicates that 18% of the total world population for men and 1% of the total world’s total population for women smoke tobacco.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s 2021 tobacco marketing season has ended with a rise in total tobacco sales and money the country has realized, as compared to that of last year.
Statistics from Auction Holdings Limited (AHL) indicates that a total of 123.7 million kilograms of all tobacco types were sold, from which the country realised US$197.1 million.
AHL’s Spokesperson Teresa Ndanga described the marketing season as a success by also looking at the average price that has risen compared to that of last year.
The statistics indicate that this year’s average price is at $1.59/kg thus higher than that of last year which was at $1.53/kg.
“Increased volume of traded tobacco and better average prices in the 2021 tobacco marketing season had a positive impact on the earnings compared to the revenue realized in 2020,” said Ndanga.
Among the major types of tobacco, farmers have sold 104,218,047 kilograms of Burley with a total of US$155,346,149.25 realized.
The country has also sold a total of 16,758,185 kilograms of Flue Cured tobacco and has generated a total of US$37,382,666.64 while on the other hand, some farmers brought a total of 2,678,109 kilograms of Dark Fired tobacco that has produced money amounting to US$ 4,321,361.76.
The average price for each tobacco type was at US$1.49/kg for Burley, US$2.23/kg for Flue Cured and US$ 1.61/kg for Dark Fired tobacco.
Ndanga said this year’s marketing season was a success also by considering the fact that the rejection rate dropped, the development which signifies that a lot of farmers sold their tobacco.
“The seasonal cumulative no-sale rejection on the auction burley market was lower at 11% this year, compared to 66% registered at the end of the season last year,” said Ndanga in a statement.

The completion period for the implementation of the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnection project has been shifted from the initial 2022 deadline to October 2023, Alex Kaitane, the Senior Project Manager at Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) has told the press.

Kataine attributed the change to the Covid-19 pandemic, whose preventative restriction measures to contain the disease prohibited foreign travels that would have facilitated project revision meetings between the two countries. 

“During the preparatory stage, we used to conduct meetings to plan its implementation, but Covid-19 interrupted the process, a development which forced us to embrace virtual meeting, until this too, met its own challenges,” he said.

He explained that among other plans to sustain the project and ensure that it remains on track even when the coronavirus resurfaces, ESCOM intends to involve local contractors to implement it.

The aim of the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnection Project is to incorporate Malawi into the Southern African Power (SAPP) which provides a platform for trading of electricity within the SADC Member states.

“The project will address the country’s frequent power outages resulting from high demand for electricity as it will be importing 50 Megawatts (MW) from Mozambique to boost its supply,” said Kataine.

It is planned that 218 kilometers long power lines will be constructed from Mozambique to Malawi with 76 kilometers lined in Malawi and 142 kilometers in Mozambique.

The US$127 million has seen the World Bank committing US$15 million to the project while the European Union supports it with 20 million Euros. Malawi as a beneficiary country has contributed US$2.5 million.

Reports indicate that the feasibility study for the project as well as environmental impact Assessment including Resettlement Policy have all been completed while implementation contracts have also been awarded.

A study done by an independent expert on logistics and infrastructure solutions for the Kasiya rutile project has confirmed Nacala Logistics Corridor (NLC) as preferred logistics route to haul the product to the world market.
The Kasiya deposit, which is being developed by ASX-listed group Sovereign Metals, is one of the largest undeveloped natural rutile deposits in the world located in central Malawi less than 50km from its capital city Lilongwe which provides exceptional benefits from the existing infrastructure available.
Sovereign Metals Managing Director Julian Stephens explains that the study has confirmed the NLC as reliable, efficient and high standard logistics solution with excellent existing infrastructure.
Stephens commented: “The exceptional established infrastructure in Malawi should result in a positive capital and operating cost outcome for Kasiya.”
“The availability of existing road, rail and port infrastructure for product export and project supplies’ imports provides a huge advantage for our world-class Kasiya Rutile Project.”
He explains that Sovereign will directly benefit from the exceptional existing infrastructure in central Malawi, which offers the preferred logistics route to the Nacala deep-water port in Mozambique through the Nacala Corridor for the export of mineral products to global markets.
Stephens also says established operation-ready logistics infrastructure provides significant capital and operation costs savings to the Company as the project continues posing a greenlight.
“By adopting the Nacala Rail Corridor as its preferred logistics solution with almost all overland distance on rail, Sovereign has the potential to reduce environmental impact and carbon footprint of Kasiya significantly compared to all-road alternatives,” says Stephens.
Sovereign has an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with regional rail operator Central East African Railways (CEAR) now named Nacala Logistics, for rail freight, port access and port handling services and is continuing with discussions for increased volumes based on the outcomes of the Company’s forthcoming Scoping Study for Kasiya.
The rail line of the NLC passes through Sovereign’s licence areas with established access via a short haulage to the rail head at the underutilized operational intermodal rail siding at Kanengo located ~50km from Kasiya.
NLC line also passes across the southern end of sovereign’s Nsaru mineralized envelope and is just 20km from the central part of Kasiya.
Meanwhile, Sovereign is assessing the possibility of establishing its own rail siding as a logistics option as part of the current Scoping Study to reduce haulage and potentially reduce operating costs.
The NLC is a 912km rail line for the purpose of transporting coal from mines in western Mozambique to the port of Nacala via Malawi.
For Malawi, the NLC provides the shortest and most direct access to the sea and global commodity markets.
The Corridor stretches from Moatize in Mozambique to Chipata in Zambia and passes through Lilongwe in Malawi to the Port of Nacala on the Indian Ocean.
Development of the NLC was essential for the expansion of global miner Vale SA (Vale) & Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co.’s (Mitsui) coal extraction activities in the Tete region of Mozambique.
In January 2021, Vale acquired Mitsui’s interest in the Moatize mine and the NLC to become the wholly owner of the operation.
NLC transported a daily average of 16,000Mt of coal and 1,150Mt of other cargo, operating a fleet of 101 locomotives and 2,677 wagons in 2020.
The landmark infrastructure project was driven by the governments of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, Vale, Mitsui, a consortium of several international and African banks and export credit agencies including the Japan Bank for International Co-operation, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance and African Development Bank.
Specifically, the governments of Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia have gradually increased their investment in the NLC to approximately US$758 million, with support from the European Union, AfDB, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and the Export-Import Bank of Korea.
The railway in Malawi is operated by Nacala Logistics who manage and control the NLC on behalf of the Joint Venture.
NLC has a capacity of 4-million tonnes of general cargo annually through Malawi and now they are actively seeking new freight customers.
Sovereign’s ground largely occurs within a 75km radius from Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe and provides the Company with excellent access to sealed roads and short haulage distances to rail and future inbound and outbound of operational consumables and critical parts.
Kasiya is perfectly located to utilize the Class-1 bitumen road network which directly accesses the deposit area.
In 2015, The Roads Authority of Malawi completed an upgrade of the 95km long, Lilongwe Old Airport-Kwanyanda-Santhe (S117) and Kasiya spur (T342) road projects.
These upgrades resulted in Class-1 bitumen standard roads to 6.8m carriageway with 1.5m single sealed shoulders.
Sovereign will be able to take advantage of this underutilized road network for inbound and outbound logistics with any potential development.
The Company recently announced results of a maiden Minerals Resources Estimate (MRE) study on its flagship Kasiya rutile tenement which confirmed the deposit as one of the largest natural rutile deposits in the world.
Stephens explained that the results of the study proved that Kasiya is a strategic and globally significant natural rutile discovery.
He said: “It is a remarkable result to achieve the maiden JORC mineral resource estimate of this scale, grade and global significance in under 18 months since discovery.”
“We believe this maiden resource is just the beginning and expect to upgrade and expand the resource over the coming quarters.”
“The Company is surging forward with the Kasiya Scoping Study which will target a large-scale natural rutile operation to help address the supply deficit and reduce the titanium industry’s environmental footprint.”
The study results also confirmed that Kasiya natural rutile is the purest, highest-grade natural form of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and is the preferred feedstock in manufacturing titanium pigment and producing titanium metal.
Titanium pigments are used in paints, coatings and plastics; and have also specialty uses including in welding, aerospace and military applications.
Stephens said the latest results give his Company strength to scale up studies to expand the tenement, which will later see the Company supplying the global market with high grade natural rutile.
Comparing Kasiya to the other major rutile-dominant resources, the Lilongwe deposit sits within the top two largest natural deposits alongside Sierra Rutile.
Stephens forecasted that further near-future resource growth could see Kasiya potentially becoming the largest and preeminent rutile deposit globally, with Central Malawi potentially becoming the largest rutile province in the world.
He said the advantage of the project is that it is being developed at an opportune time when current sources of natural rutile are in decline as several operations’ reserves are depleting concurrently with declining ore grades. These include Iluka Resources’ (Iluka) Sierra Rutile and Base Resources’ Kwale operations in Kenya.

The National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) has launched a five-year fraud and corruption prevention policy to ensure a corrupt-free working environment within the council and the construction industry In Malawi.

Speaking during the launch of the policy in Lilongwe, NCIC Acting CEO Engineer Gerald Khonje said the policy has been developed to ensure that any form of fraud and corruption is not condoned in Malawi’s construction industry.

Khonje said the council is committed to investigate and accordingly deal with all suspected fraudulent and corrupt activities.

The policy will apply to all fraud and corrupt practices and to any suspected breaches involving the NCIC board; Management and staff members; persons engaged in the construction industry; service providers and; any other stakeholders who directly or indirectly transact with the Council.

Khonje said: “Indeed, the effects of corruption are rampant, and the country has witnessed in the past years serious cases such as the famous cash-gate scandal that led to the plunder of huge public money.”

“These practices have led to serious negative effects on national development and the council together with the entire construction industry is not exempted from the same.”

“The council realizes that its operations and that of the industry are susceptible to fraudulent and corrupt practices.”

“These practices have the potential to cause significant financial and non-financial harm. Therefore, the prevention and control of these practices should feature predominantly within the systems and procedures of the council and that of the industry.”

Khonje also stressed that the fraud and corruption prevention policy will prioritize areas of fraud and corruption prevention system; and internal control systems.

On fraud and corruption prevention system, the policy will focus on development and implementation of an effective fraud and corruption detective and correction system in the council.

While in internal control systems, the policy will spearhead adherence and enforcement of other policies that guild the council including; registration procedures, financial policies and procedures, codes of conduct, staff terms and conditions of service regulation and monitoring and; enforcement procedures.

He said: “So this policy will enhance transparency and accountability. You may be aware that we were also running that initiative in the construction industry that enhances disclosure of material project information about projects that are being implemented within the country.”

“With that accountability, duty bearers will be able to be held accountable by the citizenry because the citizenry will be empowered through sensitization as to what they should expect from the industry and how projects are expected to run.”

In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Transport Nancy Chaola Mdooko hailed the launch of the policy describing it as a catalyst towards eradicating fraud and corrupt activities in the industry as some citizens will be kept aware of what is bad in the system.

Mdooko said that the construction industry is one of the fertile industries that contributes towards boosting the country’s economy and, that keeping it a fraud and corrupt free-zone will rescue the country’s grappled economy.

“I am calling every citizen to take part in reporting any fraud and corrupt practices to ensure that the malpractice is prevented. On top of that I urge NCIC board to abide and live by the commitments and policies so that this policy should also be implemented on the ground not only on paper,” said Mdooko.

She appealed for more intervention and coordination amongst various stakeholders in the construction industry in developing the sector in order to meet the country’s the Malawi 2063 agenda.

Apart from the fraud and corruption prevention policy, NCIC also launched other two documents; disability policy to promote the contribution of men and women with disabilities in the country’s construction industry; and client service charter with a goal of developing an internationally competitive construction industry that positively responds to industry demands and technological advancement in provision of quality infrastructure products and services.

The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) says it has embarked on a campaign of promoting alternative sources of energy including Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Biogas with an intention to scale up LPG usage in the country to 3% by 2023.

MERA Public Relations Officer Fitina Khonje told Mining & Trade Review that the regulatory body is promoting the alternative sources as they are tried and tested cleaner, convenient and environmentally friendly alternative sources of energy.

Khonje said the efforts are meant to discourage use of unsustainable and polluting sources of energy.

Khonje said: “We intend to stimulate LPG usage to 3% by 2023. We are noting growing interest in LPG and we know this target is achievable.

“When consumers appreciate and experience the positive attributes of gas and accessibility is enhanced, LPG will be an automatic choice just as it is in many countries.”

“MERA is not working in isolation on this drive. We are supporting the implementation of the Energy Policy and there is high government and other stakeholder interest to push up household and commercial usage of LPG.”

Khonje further said there is huge hope for the promotion of LPG to be successful following various efforts by both MERA and the government to ensure that LPG is affordable and accessible in the country.

She said apart from the introduction of zero rated value added tax on LPG since October 2019, MERA has reduced licence fees and technical regulations for LPG outlets.

According to Khonje, MERA believes that incentives being rendered to LPG operators can also be passed on to customers to encourage consumption.

Khonje said: “In addition to this, more operators in the LPG sector will push down prices through economies of scale and will lead to wider distribution networks and accessibility.”

“We have also relaxed licensing conditions in order to attract more players including gas importers and gas retailers.”

“We will be holding information sessions on Gas Retailing in few weeks’ time and we encourage those who are interested to register with MERA to attend.”

Khonje also disclosed that MERA is currently lobbying Government through the Ministry of Finance to consider removing duties and VAT on LPG accessories and appliances.

However, commenting on the safety handling and usage of gas, Khonje lamented safety risk perceptions to have contributed towards the low uptake of LPG in the country.

Khonje said MERA believes that increased consumer awareness coupled with regulatory monitoring and enforcement of standards will facilitate understanding and adoption of safe practices.

According to Khonje, MERA has a dedicated team to ensure LPG safety standards are being upheld.

She said MERA is also conducting routine inspections of all LPG outlets and that required corrections are followed up whereby LPG retailers are required to give safety trainings to first time users.

Khonje added that the regulatory body is also disseminating Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials on safety and proper LPG usage.

Meanwhile, apart from the LPG and biogas, the regulator is receiving encouraging reports on the uptake of solar energy in the country.

Khonje however said, though the country’s adoption rate for solar energy is encouraging, there is still more to be done to create awareness on standards, encourage usage of MERA licensed installers and encourage increased usage at commercial and institutional level.

As part of their mandate, MERA is entitled to facilitate increased access to energy supplies; promotion of energy efficiency and energy savings; and promotion of consumer awareness and education on energy issues.

Hotel group Sunbird Tourism Plc has unveiled its plans to construct 15 room eco lodge at Majete Wildlife Reserve in Chikwawa.

The group says in its interim financial statement for the half year period ended June 30, 2021 that the project which is now at design stage, is scheduled to be completed next year.

In the statement co-signed by Chairman George Patridge and Director Vilipo Munthali, Sunbird explains that the project will help the Company revive its hospitality business which has greatly been affected by coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Say Petridge and Munthali: “Looking ahead to the rest of the year, the Covid-19 pandemic is still a major risk in the industry and continues to adversely affect the performance of hospitality business.”

“However, the board’s focus remains to continue building a resilient brand by improving service delivery and guest experience.”

“This is being achieved through product and infrastructure improvements and intensifying sales and marketing activities to ensure that the company maintains its market leadership in the hospitality industry.”

The Group expresses optimism that hospitality business will improve following Covid-19 vaccination campaign underway which is expected to bring desired confidence in resuming normal business and leisure travel as some countries are beginning to open up.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Government has relaxed some of the Covid-19 restrictions, which the Group says will bring positive impact on the economy of the country specifically the tourism industry.

Apart from the construction of eco lodge at Majete, Sunbird is implementing a number of key products improvements across the country.

These include construction of a new iconic 42-bedroom Sunbird Water Front Beach Resort adjacent to Sunbird Livingstonia Beach which was fully completed and; Vincent’s platinum a fine dining restaurant at Sunbird Mount Soche, both scheduled to open in October, 2021.

With all these initiatives, complemented by an improvement in business environment, Sunbird Board forecasts returning of the company to profitability in the second half of the year.

Sunbird’s loss after tax was at MK475.8-million which compares favorably to the loss of MK1.3-billion realized in the same period last year, signaling a process of the business environment returning slowly to normality as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry is better than the first wave in the previous year.

Sunbird’s nine properties include Sunbird Capital in Lilongwe, Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre, Sunbird Lilongwe, Sunbird Mzuzu, Sunbird Mkopola in Mangochi, Sunbird Livingstonia Beach in Salima, Sunbird Chintheche in Nkhatabay, and Sunbird Ku Chawe in Zomba.

The Malawi Government has unveiled its plans to support the country’s manufacturing sector as a way of achieving the pillar of industrialization contained in Malawi 2063 vision.

In his presentation when he appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Principal Secretary in the Ministry Peter Simbani told the members of parliament that the Government is initially reviewing the industry’s legal framework.

Simbani said understanding that industrialization is one of the MW2063 pillars, government unbundled the Ministry of Industry from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism to fully champion the agenda of industrializing the country.

He said: “First of all we want to look at our legal framework. On top of that, we want  to look into strategies that we have been having as a country so that going forward we develop policies and strategies that should really push us to what the vision tells us so that time by 2063 we become a middle income country.”

“Secondly, we are looking at rural industrialization strategy which is focusing on those rural areas that produce marketable products for example tangerines in Mwanza.”

“We want to organize people in those areas to form cooperatives so that they have added force to competently negotiate prices for their products.”

“We will also create secondary cooperatives that will be buying from these primary cooperatives. We have full package on how we want to move this agenda to where we want to be.”

He stressed that such Government interventions will see the Ministry’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increasing from the current nine percent to 12 percent by 2030.

Simbani said the Ministry’s interventions will focus on supporting growth of both large and small scale industries.

On large scale industries, the interventions will include installation of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) of which the Government has already identified sites in Area 55 in Lilongwe; Matindi and Chirimba in Blantyre and; Dunduzu in Mzuzu.

The Malawi Government is planning to construct factory shells in the SEZ and invite investors to come and invest in specific areas to start producing value added products.

He said: “For those that will come and be operating in these economic zones, they will enjoy incentives that the government is going to come up with.”

“Let me tell you that a bill is being prepared and it should come to parliament and once it is approved, gazetted and operationalised, all the incentives that are required for the investors to come in and operate will be in place.”

For the SEZ to start taking shape, the Ministry of Industry requires about MK5-billion from the treasury to compensate people in all identified sites.

In his recommendations, PAC Chairperson Shadreck Namalomba queried the Ministry on the progress on the development of industry parks saying there is no progress seen on the ground.

Namalomba stressed that the Ministry is not showing commitment in the development and that it is not giving proper projections on how some of them will commence. 

He said: “This is the Ministry of Industry and we are saying what is it that you are doing to take us there where the MW2063 wants us to be.”

“We want industrial parks in the country, when are you coming to say here are the parks and we are commissioning them?”

“This is the Ministry that needs to give Malawians radiate confidence out there, Malawians need to see what they are doing. Right now I can say there is much more that they need to do.”

In the MW2063 Agenda, industrialization is earmarked to transform the country’s economy from being predominantly consuming and importing to predominantly producing and exporting.

The manufacturing sector will have strong backward and forward linkages with agriculture, mining and services sectors.

Malawi will pursue an industrial revolution driven by strong human capital and utilization of local resources.   

Industrialization has stagnated in Malawi mainly because of high production costs due to: Inefficiencies in energy and transport; poor standards leading to non-competitive products on international markets; lack of appropriate skills and uptake of technology; high costs of doing business and deficient enabling infrastructure; low access to export markets; governance challenges with regard to policy making and implementation; and non-conducive environment for the growth of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), among other challenges.

Malawi’s largest publicly listed conglomerate Press Corporation says it is progressing with discussions with an equity investor for its subsidiary, landline operator Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL).

In a summary of unaudited results for the six months period ended June 30 co-signed by Chairman Randson Mwadiwa and Group CEO George Patridge, PCL says the fixed telephony company reported a 9% improvement in its results driven by improved gross margins and costs containment.

“Discussions with an equity investor in the fixed telephone business are progressing well,” state Mwadiwa and Partridge.

PCL’s telecommunications segment which includes MTL and another subsidiary cellular phone network provider, TNM, registered 25% growth in its profit after tax with the mobile phone company registering a 19% growth on its net earnings.

Mwadiwa and Partridge say the company has embarked on several strategic initiatives aimed at regaining its market share in the telecommunication segment, and expects its performance in the sector to show significant improvements in the second half of the year.

National Bank of Malawi, which makes up the conglomerate’s financial services segment, continued to be the main driver of the Group’s results, and delivered satisfactory results which were driven by a 36% increase in net service income.

PCL is also searching for an equity investor for its retail chain, People’s Trading Centre (PTC), which has continued to make losses due to a myriad of operating challenges.

“The search for an equity investor is continuing and some debts may have to be consumed by the group once an equity investor is identified,” state Mwadiwa and Partridge.

PCL’s subsidiaries in the energy sector Press Cane and Ethanol Company of Malawi (ETHCO) were on off season during the first quarter of the year but Mwadiwa and Partridge say the two companies are on track and are expected to deliver planned results.

Mwadiwa and Partridge say the focus of the group is on feasibility of new projects and to consolidate gains made in the existing restructured and streamlined portfolios.

“The Group is well positioned for growth and management is confident to deliver planned results.”