By Beatrice Bangula

Blantyre, October 4, Mana: Minister of Trade and Industry, Sosten Gwengwe, on Thursday opened Metallo Trading Limited in Limbe, Blantyre where the company is expecting to expand to produce pots, electrical cables and steel bars among others.

Gwengwe said was impressed to see Metallo, a big investor in Mozambique getting established in Malawi to buy and process metal.

He said Matelo is also a job creator to young people.

“Through the conversations we had, Metallo have built this shelter and have started small but their plan is to expand so they are able to deal with local scraps that we have in Malawi. They will be producing value added products like pots, electric cables, steel bars and everything else,” he said.

The minister also appealed to other foreign companies to establish bases to contribute to Malawi’s economy.

“The trade balance has always been on the negative side for our country and we are trying as much as possible to have policies that reverses the trend where our trade balance start balancing,” Gwengwe said.

He observed that Malawi was having too much imports and very little exports, adding government was working hard to encourage companies to make export quality goods that should compete on international markets.

Speaking on behalf of the metal company, Shivam Mittal, appealed to Malawians to sell scraps to Metalo Trading Limited, saying their products will also be sold here.

“We are here now to buy the scraps and recycle them. Next year we will start manufacturing copper cables so that Malawi will not have to import from other countries. Malawi will be exporting these products to earn forex,” he said.

Before opening Metallo Trading Limited, Gwengwe toured Pharmanova Malawi Limited in Blantyre to appreciate how the company is faring.