Maputo — Mozambique's only tobacco processing company, Mozambique Leaf Tobacco (MLT), is soon to introduce a second processing line and increase its installed capacity from the current 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes a year.

Alfredo Chambule, an official of the company, said that the introduction of the new processing line will call for an increase in the amount of raw tobacco and of the cultivated area, as well as the number of workers in the factory.

He told AIM that all conditions have been created for the installation of the new line, but everything depends on authorization by the relevant authorities.

"There is space for installating machinery for a second line in the place where the current processing line is operating. At the moment all we need to begin installation is a decision by the relevant authorities", he said.

MLT is expecting to receive 2,500 truck loads of tobacco from the production areas this year. This should be 1,000 tonnes more than in 2005. Chambule explained that this quantity will result in about 45,000 tonnes of processed tobacco The factory processed and exported 24,000 tonnes last year.

MLT is exporting to more than 20 countries across the world, including Japan, Portugal, Greece, Germany and France.

The building of the MLT factory, believed to be the second largest in Africa, cost about 43 million US dollars, and took 26 months. It was officially inaugurated in May, and operates in the Mpandwe neighbourhood of the western city of Tete. The factory currently employs over 1,300 permanent workers.

MLT is a subsidiary of the US-based company Universal Tobacco (UT), the largest tobacco producer and processor in the world, with branches in countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Ghana.

The company started operating in Mozambique in 1996 in Tete, working with peasant producers, and subsequently expanded its activities to Manica, Zambezia, Nampula and Niassa provinces.