Zambia plans to restart production at its largest coffee producer

Zambia plans to restart production at its largest coffee producer, which was closed in 2008 after it defaulted on loan repayments.

The Northern Coffee Corporation, formerly known as Kasama Coffee Company produced one-third of Zambia’s 6,000 metric tonnes of coffee in 2004.

According to data from the Zambia coffee growers’ association, the country produced 1,250 tons of coffee in 2010, down from 1,643 tons a year earlier.

The Kasama Coffee Company Limited was at its peak Zambia’s largest coffee exporter and the biggest employer in Northern Province with an establishment of 10 000 workers.

The commissioning of Northern Coffee Corporation Limited today will lead to job creation of approximately 300 jobs hence help in poverty alleviation in the province.

Kasama Coffee Company Limited was on 28^th September 2008 placed under receivership due to the company’s default on loan repayments due to Standard Chartered Bank Plc and Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc.

At the time, the global economy was hit by a severe economic downturn which affected the receivers’ efforts to find a suitable buyer locally and internationally for the assets of the Kasama Coffee Company.

The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), utilizing the Trade and Industrial Development Fund, worked with the receiver and the two banks to formulate a rescue plan which was accepted by Government.

###########