Cigarette manufacturing plan for Zambia

Roland Imperial Tobacco Company (RITCO) has said it plans to set up a US$20 million primary processing plant in Zambia’s Lusaka South Multi-facility Economic Zone (LS-MFEZ), according to a Times of Zambia story.

The company, which is wholly Zambian owned and is not connected to the U.K.-based Imperial Tobacco Group, is said to have signed a lease agreement with the LS-MFEZ management.

General manager of the manufacturing division, Aliport Ngoma, indicated the new plant would produce cut rag for its own secondary factory. The operation would greatly benefit from locally grown tobacco, which had “great flavor,” he added.

RITCO is said to have bought “ultra-modern secondary machinery” from Germany, France and Italy for the establishment of Zambia’s only cigarette manufacturing plant, which was being set up in the Makeni Industrial Park at a cost of US$8 million.

Ngoma explained that the Makeni Industrial Park was not able to accommodate both the secondary and primary plants.