Olivine decommissions antiquated cooking oil plant

New Olivine Industries investors have decommissioned the company’s cooking oil plant and will focus on other products such as margarine and soaps while introducing new products.

According to a strategy document, the edible oil refinery and the solvent extraction plant are good as scrap, and so will be scrapped.

Wilmar International and Midex Group last year bought 49.3 percent of Olivine from AICO and have so far injected $15 million into the firm.

The two shareholders also have a significant stake in Zimbabwe’s biggest cooking oil manufacturer, Surface Wilmar.

Olivine will continue to produce margarine, the decades-old Buttercup brand, and toiletries.

Other products that will continue to be produced include baked beans and tomato ketchup. The document said the revival of Olivine Industries will be phased.

“We expect to turn around the company by end of 2016 into a profitable company. Olivine and its products will regain its former glory by end of 2017,” reads the document.

Following the changes in shareholding at Olivine Industries, the company has been going through a restructuring exercise.

The remainder of Olivine Industries shareholding is owned by the Government of Zimbabwe through the Industrial Development Corporation.- The Source

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