Africa-focused Chinese firm Wangkang Holding Group proposed a set of new investments in Mozambique in a meeting with the country’s president, reports Mozambican news agency AIM.
Wangkang chairperson Zhong He Liu requested an audience with Mozambican President Daniel Chapo to discuss “significantly” expanding his group’s presence in the country, the agency said. One of his proposals centred on the establishment of a special economic zone in the district of Moamba, about 60 kilometres north of the Mozambican capital, where Wangkang opened a ceramics plant last September. The US$140-million Safira Mozambique Ceramic factory is one of the largest of its kind in Africa, producing bricks and tiles for the domestic and international markets.
According to a release from the president’s office, Chapo encouraged Wangkang to step up its investments, giving priority to initiatives promoting job creation and community welfare.
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Another proposal discussed was the construction of a steel factory in northern Mozambique, an area with abundant coal reserves. By building the factory locally, Zhong aims to transform Mozambican minerals inside the country, producing industrial goods with added value. This would allow the country to generate more revenue and jobs from its coal reserves than it would from exporting raw materials. Zhong said the proposals reflected Wangkang’s desire to “build good industry” and help the economy “grow faster” in Mozambique.
Wangkang began in 2002 as a Wenzhou-based shoe and synthetic leather company, building a solid reputation in the industry before expanding into the manufacture and sale of wholesale building materials. When company founder Sun Jian visited Nigeria in 2010, he looked at the large number of ceramic products being imported and saw an opportunity. The weight and fragility of ceramics make them more costly to transport, which gives local manufacturers a significant advantage.
Since opening that first overseas factory, Wangkang now accounts for over 30 percent of the ceramics market in Africa and boasts more than a dozen facilities across Africa, the Middle East and South America.
