KWEKWE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said Ammonium Nitrate (AN) manufacturer, Sable Chemicals should spread its tentacles into the export market in order to take advantage of opportunities within the region at the same time getting the much needed foreign currency.
President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe is one of the few Southern African countries with a facility that produces Ammonium Nitrate, demonstrating potential to be one of the leading exporters of AN.
“In this regard I urge the company to take advantage of regional markets within the SADC, COMESA and the rest of Africa to export its surplus output to stimulate export growth and earn foreign currency,” President Mnangagwa said during a tour of the company’s operations.
He said Sable Chemicals is a strategic contributor to the country’s industrialisation agenda and key to successful modernisation of the agricultural sector.
President Mnangagwa challenged Sable Chemicals to utilise its location in Kwekwe to increase multi-sectoral synergies throughout the country. The success of Sable Chemicals is expected to have ripple effects on the growth of other industries and the economy.
“Sable Chemicals occupies a unique space in this economy and its success will yield a wide range of cross cutting benefits.
“My Government is however working tirelessly to ensure that closed and distressed industries resume operations,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said availability of affordable ammonium nitrate going into the future has a positive impact on on-farm productivity levels and national food security. The success of the command agriculture programme for the 2016/17 season saw the annual demand for top dressing fertilisers rise to 110 000 metric tonnes for the summer cropping season alone.
With an expected annual increase of the cropping hectarage, this volume is bound to increase drastically.
Sable Chemicals chairman Shingi Mutasa said the company is currently mobilising close to $200 million towards expanding its capacity through setting up an ammonia plant in Kwekwe while also increasing its production capacity for ammonium nitrate to meet local demand.
In addition, Sable Chemicals has plans to produce ammonium nitrate solution for use in the production of explosives for the mining industry. President Mnangagwa said this is a welcome initiative especially in the view of the anticipated growth in the mining sector.
“I applaud your recent initiative to reinvigorate the production process by ceasing the electrolysis method to produce ammonia gas, thereby releasing approximately 90 megawatts into the national grid annually,” said the President.
Sable Chemicals, following the abandonment of the electrolysis system, is now importing ammonia gas from South Africa, an initiative which the company argues is cost effective.
The company abandoned the old uneconomic model of manufacturing ammonia gas using the electrolysis method in 2015.
Mutasa said foreign currency has been a major challenge for the company but with adequate foreign currency allocations, the company has capacity to triple production.
