Chamume – Angolan Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Carmen do Sacramento Neto, denied Tuesday in central Benguela province rumors that the country will continue to import salt.
Angola currently produces around 210,000 tonnes of salt per year, a quantity considered to be above its needs, estimated at around 70,000.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the Tchicamby Salt Pans, the government official explained that the existing imports have to do with salt by-products, which are not yet manufactured in the country.
These include salt tablets, which are used in brewery machinery, and products to clean haemodialysis equipment.
"We are working with the salt producers so that they can produce salt with a purity of 99.9 percent to facilitate the production of these by-products,” the official said.
According to Carmen Neto, the Ministry aims is to achieve the targets set for self-sufficiency in all aspects, meeting the needs of human and animal consumption as well as the oil industry.
"For the city of salt, we have plans for eight more salt pans, which means that our targets will be met in a short space of time," Neto said.
The minister said the National Development Plan (PND) is expected to provide these targets as well as the Ministry's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product to enable salt to be distributed all over the country.
"This opens up the possibility of production, but above all of employability for young people," the minister said.TC/CRB/DAN/AMP
