MACAUHUB NEWS SUMMARISED FOR MOZAMBIQUE From 11rd September to 17th September 2013 Anadarko Petroleum promotes Mozambican natural gas in Japan September 11th, 2013 US oil group Anadarko Petroleum is expected to announce deals to supply natural gas from Mozambique this year and in 2014, the group’s chief executive, Al Walker said in Tokyo Tuesday. Walker also said that the first shipments of natural gas would be, as previously outlined, in 2018, and added that at the end of the year the group will have invested US$3 billion in prospecting in Area 1 of the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique. So far, Walker said cited by financial news agency Reuters, the group had found reserves of between 35 and 65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the area. At a conference with potential buyers, Walker said that the group planned to launch the project by installing four natural gas processing plants, which may be increased to 10, in an area of 7,000 hectares. The US group partnered Italian group ENI jointly to develop the Area 1 and Area 4 blocks, and Anadarko announced on its website that liquid natural gas (LNG) production in Mozambique may total 50 million tons per year. The two groups have found around 150 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the two blocks, and new discoveries are announced regularly, the latest of which by ENI. Bank of Mozambique keeps main interest rates unchanged The Bank of Mozambique has decided to keep the interest rate on its permanent liquidity facility unchanged at 8.75 percent, which is the lowest rate since December 2008, the central bank said in a statement issued in Maputo Tuesday. The Bank of Mozambique also said that the Monetary Policy Committee had also kept the rate of its permanent deposit liquidity facility at 1.50 percent and the required reserve rate at 8.0 percent. After analysing the country’s economic situation the committee also decided to intervene in interbank market in order to ensure that cash in circulation does not exceed 43.817 billion meticals at the end of September of this year. The Bank of Mozambique has reduced the interest rate on its permanent liquidity facility by 6 percentage points since last year in order to stimulate the economy, which has seen low levels of inflation. In the statement, the central bank said that foreign reserves had increased by US$407 million to US$2.825 billion at the end of August, as a result of Italian group ENI paying US$400 million in taxes on the sale of a stake in the Area 4 oil block of the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique. Mozambique’s capital due to start receiving piped natural gas in May 2014 Distribution of natural gas in the city of Maputo and in Marracuene is due to begin by May 2014 and priority will be given to large consumers, such as hospitals, hotels and shopping centres, the Energy Minister said Tuesday. Salvador Namburete noted that this was the date set out in the contract and added that only after large consumers started receiving the piped natural gas would the residential market become a priority, according to Mozambican news agency AIM. Costing an expected US$38 million, the domestic gas project was launched in March of this year and includes construction d operation of a gas pipeline running form Matola to Maputo and to the district of Marracuene, in Maputo province, and the gas distribution network is a total of 62 kilometres long. The project is controlled by state oil and gas company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) and construction is the responsibility of the Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas). The natural gas to be used for this project is extracted at the Temane and Pande gas fields, in Inhambane province, which are explored by South African petrochemical group Sasol. District electrification project finished in Mozambique’s Inhambane province The Mozambican province of Inhambane now has its 12 districts linked to the national power grid Mozambique’s national power company Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM) said, adding that the district electrification process for the entire country would be concluded by the end of 2014. The coastal district of Funhalouro was the last area of Inhambane province to receive electricity, as part of a project costing around US$4 million and funded by the India Export Import Bank (ExIm), according to a statement sent to Macauhub in Maputo. At the moment 112 of Mozambique’s 128 districts are linked to the national grid, said the chairman of EdM, Augusto de Sousa Fernando, giving assurances that by the end of next year, all districts of Mozambican would be linked to the grid. In the meantime, according to Fernando, the provinces of Cabo Delgado (north), Gaza (south), Sofala and Manica (centre) are the areas of the country that still have districts that are not linked up to the grid. New projects approved in Cape Verde by the Millennium Challenge Corporation US development organisation the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) plans to provide Cape Verde with US$66.2 million as of 30 November, MCC officials on the archipelago said Wednesday in Praia. Kenneth Miller said that US$2.5 million was for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) projects and Property Management for Investment Promotion (Land) and would be paid out as part of specific contracts that would be signed, according to Cape Verdean news agency Inforpress. The resident director said he expected that this month another US$5 million would be paid out to the Water and Sanitation Fund (Fasa) following the creation of the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANAS) and the National Water and Sanitation Council (CNAS). The first payment of US$5 million may benefit all the islands that have their own autonomous water services, said Miller, noting that Water and Sanitation Services would not benefit, as they had to be “transformed” into water and sanitation companies. In the case of Santiago Island, Miller said he believed that in the next four to six months the Águas de Santiago company would be set up, which would be covered by a second funding package of US$10 million. Maize production in Mozambique has one of lowest yields in southern Africa September 12th, 2013 The yield for maize production in Mozambique is 1 ton per hectare compared to an average of 4.9 tons per hectare for Southern African countries, according to an official from the Mozambican Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM). Pedro Fato, a researcher from the institute, told Mozambican news agency AIM that although maize was Mozambique’s most important crop after cassava, its yield was still very low, and in that region was only higher than that of Angola. In Mozambique, maize production is predominantly in low-lying areas and covers 65 percent of those areas, with each family farming plots of up to 3 hectares. Despite low yields, maize is one of the crops that, along with cassava, has had a production surplus in teh last few years in Mozambique, with total production of 14.7 million tons per year. Portuguese banking group Crédito Agrícola to open bank in Mozambique in 2014 Portuguese group Crédito Agrícola plans to start operating in the Mozambican market with a locally-based bank starting in 2014, said the group’s chief executive Licínio Pina. Cited by Portuguese daily newspaper Diário Económico, Pina also said that investment would be carried out with a Mozambican minority partner and would mainly focus on the agricultural sector. “We plan to install a cooperative bank in Mozambique and the starting point will be Nacala, the port city of the Mozambican province of Nampula,” said the Crédito Agrícola CEO, according to whom the group needs to move beyond Portugal in order to grow. The chief executive of Crédito Agrícola also said that the group had been contacted to help create a cooperative bank in Mozambique, but may just provide technical support. Pina said that his group and the Mozambican Agricultural Development Institute would sign a protocol to set up a system to support the primary sector similar to Portugal’s Institute for Funding Agriculture and Fishing as well as a bank. Oil terminals to be built in Tete and Palma, Mozambique Two oil terminals are due to be built in the city of Tete and the town of Palma, in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, in order to supply fuel to large coal and natural gas projects, Mozambique’s Energy Minister announced. At a meeting of the ministry’s Coordinating Council in the city of Gurué, Zambézia province, Minister Salvador Namburete said that construction of the two terminals would require active participation of national companies in the value and supply chains of Mozambique’s extractive industry. Cited by Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias, the minister said that another 44 fuel stations had been built across the country, increasing the total to 340. Portugal’s Mota-Engil provides link by lake between Mozambique and Malawi Management of the “Chambo” ship that provides a link by lake between Mozambique and Malawi, has been handed over to two companies owned by Portuguese group Mota-Engil, Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias reported Wednesday. The “Chambo” ship, which was recently bought by the Mozambican government, is due to start operating “in the next two months,” linking the communities that live on both sides of lake Nyassa (also known as Lake Malawi), and is managed by Emocil – Empresa Moçambicana de Construção e Promoção Imobiliária and the Malawi Shipping Company. In 2010 the Malawian government gave the Malawi Shipping Company a 35-year concession on shipping services on the lake and, this year, also handed over management of the main ports on the lake to the Malawi Ports Company, which is also a subsidiary of Mota-Engil. The “Chambo”, the largest Mozambican ship operating on Lake Nyassa, was built in Portugal and has capacity for 100 passengers and two vehicles. ProSavana in Mozambique sets up website The ProSavana agricultural project, which involves Mozambique, Brazil and Japan, now has a website – prosavana.gov.mz/ – which publishes all information available about the project. The website will be regularly updated with news, videos and the results of studies and public consultations, allow anyone that is interested to keep up with the progress of ProSavana. The project is focused on agricultural, social and economic development of the communities located along the Nacala Corridor, by contributing to security, increased yield and productivity. The project intends to reproduce the success Brazil has had in its “cerrado” area in Mozambique’s savannahs by using the area for agricultural production with the technical and financial support of Brazil and Japan through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC). Australia’s Triton Minerals discovers more graphite in northern Mozambique September 13th, 2013 Prospecting in northern Mozambique by the Australian company Triton Minerals has enabled discovery of a 3 km long concentration of graphite, the company announced in a statement released on Wednesday in Perth. While prospecting for graphite in the Balama project in Cabo Delgado province, the company found coal deposits with a 16.2 percent concentration of graphite. The company’s general director, Brad Doyle, said the results were “very positive”, given that coal deposits with a graphite content of 2 percent are usually considered economically viable. The bloc in question is located near the high quality graphite deposits already discovered by another Australian company, Syrah Resources. Graphite is a form of carbon valued for properties such as the ability to conduct electricity. It is also used to produce the very strong material graphene. Cimentos de Moçambique orders filter from US company Cimentos de Moçambique, pertaining to Brazil’s Cimpor group, has ordered from the American Air Filter company the manufacture and installation of a filter to reduce emissions at the Matola cement plant on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital Maputo, a company spokesman announced. The order will cost Cimentos de Moçambique US$8 million and should be installed by the US company in 2014. The Mozambican company’s management is convinced that the new filter’s installation “will significantly improve the environment along with the wellbeing and health of Matola residents,” said spokesman Sérgio Bandeira, cited by the international press. Cimentos de Moçambique is the country’s top cement producer, with annual production of nearly 1 million tons. The shareholder structure of Cimpor – Cimentos de Portugal was changed after a takeover bid in 2012. Brazil’s InterCement then (held by the Brazilian group Camargo Corrêa) assumed control of a majority of the Portuguese cement maker’s capital. Mozambican and Thai state oil companies to sign memorandum of understanding September 16th, 2013 A memorandum of understanding is due soon to be signed by the state oil companies of Mozambique and Thailand, said the chief executive of Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP). Tevin Vongvanich told the Bangkok Post that the Mozambican government was “impressed” with the 30-year success of the Map Ta Phut oil and gas complex, which may be reproduced in the East African company. Noting that the group and the remaining partners of the Area 1 block of the Rovuma basin are preparing an economic feasibility study for the project, the PTTEP CEO said that the Mozambican government wanted to attract new companies to explore the country’s mineral resources. In a 2012 deal, the Thais state group paid US$1.9 billion for an 8.5 percent stake in the block then owned by Irish company Cove Energy. “As well as needing natural gas from Mozambique we want to help the country to become a success story, like the Map Ta Phut oil and gas project,” said Vongvanich. US group Anadarko Petroleum and Italy’s ENI recently announced that natural gas reserves discovered so far in blocks in the Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique, totalled 150 trillion cubic feet. This would make Mozambique the world’s third-largest gas exporter after Qatar and Australia. Logistics problems have little effect on investments by Brazilian group Vale in Mozambique Investment ear-marked for Mozambique by Brazilian mining group Vale is unchanged at US$8 billion and difficulties carrying coal away from the group’s projects have not affected it, said the director of Vale Moçambique, Ricardo Saad. The director of Vale Moçambique told Portuguese news agency Lusa that, although the restrictions on transporting coal had required an additional initial investment, the company is not exporting the quantities it expected. “The projection is exports of 4.5 million tons per year but we have yet to reach that level. We started production in August 2011, in 2012 we exported almost 3 million tons and in 2014 we expect to reach the maximum capacity of the Sena line that is available to Vale,” said Saad. The Sena railroad, which carries the coal from Moatize to the port of Beira in the centre of the country, does not operate at its projected capacity due to a number of problems. To overcome these difficulties, Vale Moçambique, owned by Brazilian group Vale, announced an investment of US$4.5 billion to build a 250 kilometre section of the Nacala railroad, to carry the coal from Moatize to the port of Nacala, in the north of the country. The director of Vale noted that the railroad to the port of Nacal was considered essential to carry the coal produced in the expansion phase of the Moatize mine. Once the Nacala railroad and port of Nacala are operational, the current capacity is doubled, along with the group’s share of the Sena railroad’s capacity, Vale expects to export up to 22 million tons of coal per year, starting in 2017. Mozambican government sells 10 pct of insurance company Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros (Emose), Mozambique’s largest and oldest insurance company, is due Monday 23 September to launch a public sale of 10 percent of its shares, a company spokesman said. With a view to expanding its shareholder base subscriptions to the public share offer ended Saturday. The move involves the sale of 15.7 million ordinary shares at a unit value of 20 meticals, and investors are required to subscribe a minimum of 50 shares. The Emose spokesman told newspaper Mediafax that the money raised by the sale would be used to fund unspecified initiatives and projects. The shares sold will be taken from the 49 percent stake currently owned by the State. The State will thus reduce its stake in Emose to 39 percent. The remaining shareholders are State stake-holding company Instituto de Gestão de Participações de Estado (Igepe), with 31 percent and the company’s Technical Management and Workers Cooperative (Getcoop) with 20 percent. Set up in 1977 following the merger of three colonial era insurance companies – Nauticus, Lusitana and Tranquilidade de Moçambique – until 1991 Emose held the monopoly on the insurance sector in Mozambique, which ended with the liberalisation of the sector. Drinks company Nuvi Moçambique considers building factory Nuvi Moçambique, a Mozambique-based drinks factory, is considering making new investments in the country, said managing director João Sampaio, cited by daily newspaper Notícias. The company has invested over US$2 million in Mozambique and Sampaio said that if further investments were considered viable, a soft drinks factory could be built in Mozambique. “We meet the needs of Mozambican consumers via Angola, but that’s not the most profitable way because it involves transport and customs charges and as soon as there is a minimum level of sale to justify the factory in Mozambique, that will be the next option,” said Sampaio. The director, who is responsible for promotion, also said that the sales target for Mozambique had been exceeded – 2 million litres – which was the initial target for 2012. Nuvi’s most famous and popular brands in Mozambique are fruit-based soft drink Blue, energy drink Speed and Tutti juices. The group that controls Nuvi Moçambique has an industrial complex in the south of Luanda, Angola, covering 130,000 square metres and has a production capacity of 1 billion litres, or 130 million boxes per year and has 21 filling lines for a variety of packages – Pet, Tetra-Pak, Bag-in-Box, glass and cans. Angola and Mozambique serve as example in China’s new strategic document for Africa Chinese participation in reconstruction and financial service in Angola and in agriculture in Mozambique are some of the examples outlined in the new strategic document of the Chinese government for economic and trade cooperation with Africa. Entitled, “China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation,” the document was published in August by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China at a time when “relations have reached a record high.” “Africa, a continent full of hope and thirsty for development, has become one of the world’s fastest growing regions, whilst China, the biggest developing country, has maintained its development impetus,” the document said. After a similar document was published in 2010 this update focuses on five areas – promotion of sustainable trade development, improvement of cooperation in investment and financing, boosting cooperation in agriculture and food safety, supporting construction of African infrastructure and improving the living conditions and training of African people. The services sector is considered “a new focus of Sino-African cooperation,” and until the end of last year direct Chinese investment in Africa totalled US$3.87 billion, which “up to a certain point made up for a lack of funds for development from local companies.” “In the area of trade and exchange, construction of the Angola International Trade Center began, which was a joint project of Chinese and local companies and once it is finished will be the biggest commercial, logistics, convention and investments services centres in southwest Africa,” said the document. The document also noted the Chinese contribution to construction of infrastructure, which made way for economic and trade development, giving construction of Angolan railways as an example. Mozambique is given as an example in the area of agriculture, as it is the location of 300 hectares of experimental rice fields supported by Chinese investments. These fields had yields of between 9 and 10 tons per hectare for three years running. Other projects for planting and processing cotton are also underway in Mozambique and neighbouring countries. These involve Chinese companies and the China-Africa Development Fund as part of a project that “was able to involve tens of thousands of local producers, effectively boosting local cotton processing skills.” China has also supported, since 2006, the creation of 15 agricultural demonstration centres in Africa, including in Mozambique, and has plans for another seven centres. China is currently Africa’s biggest trading partner and the biggest source of Chinese imports. Mozambican economy grows 6.5 pct in first half September 17th, 2013 The Mozambican economy posted growth in the first half of the year, according to a report on the 2013 Economic and Social Plan presented Monday at the 14th session of the Development Observatory, held in Maputo. Noting that results had been affected by floods at the beginning of the year, conflicts in the central area of the country, delays in payments from donors and a doctors’ strike, the document said that agriculture, which is seen as the basis for the country’s development, had posted growth of 6.7 percent against the same period of last year. The services sector posted the highest growth, with a rate of 9.2 percent. Speaking at the meeting, the Minister for Planning and Development, Aiuba Cuereneia said that net international reserves totalled US$2.296 billion, “enough to cover 5.3 months of goods and services imports.” Mozambican institute develops number of drought-resistant sweet potato varieties September 17th, 2013 Mozambique’s Agrarian Research Institute since last April has been developing new varieties of sweet potato that are more resistant to droughts, agronomist and manager of the project, José Ricardo said. The project is being carried out in the Umbeluzi Treatment Station of the Mozambican Agrarian Research Institute by over 200 farmers from the Boane district of the coastal province of Maputo. It has financial support of US$5 million from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Ricardo said that the varieties had the potential to provide yields of around 15 tons per hectare, as well as containing a large amount of vitamin A. Since April around 2 million Mozambican rural workers received seeds for these varieties to test in their production areas, according to Ricardo cited by Mozambican news agency AIM. AGRA has invested around US$20 million in Mozambique since 2007 to fund 43 agricultural projects. Portuguese advertising company MOP acquires company in Mozambique Portuguese advertising company MOP has expanded to Mozambique by buying a 51 percent stake in Mozambican company Imagination, said the chief executive of MOP, Vasco Perestrello. Imagination held the concession on 400 billboards across the country but only three of these were being used, and this will allow the Portuguese company to present the market with an advertising network built from scratch. MOP’s business will begin in Maputo, where Imagination ahs 100 billboard locations, but within “three to six months,” the aim is to expand to other Mozambican provinces. The focus on Mozambique – which had been studied by the company for over a year – involves investments of between US$1 million and US$2 million over two years and Perestrello said he hoped turnover would total US$1 million by the end of 2014. The acquisition of Imagination is MOP’s first international move and it is entering market in which a number of South African and local players operate, including Continental, Primedia and Painel, which is owned by Mozambican advertising agency Golo. Macauhub News Agency Address: Av. Infante D. Henrique, 43-53 A The Macau Square, 8th Floor – L Macau Phone: (853) -28355315/6 Fax: (853) -28355466 E-Mail: [email protected]
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 06:56:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015