Botash begins salt pre-packaging

Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday December 21, 2016 22:44

 

According to Botash acting director, Victoria Lekoma the company has already started pre-packaging the salt, which has already penetrated the Zambian market.

“We have already started pre-packing our salt which is called Botsalt. The salt packages of both fine and coarse salt are in 500 grammes and one kilogramme packages with plans to introduce two kilogrammes,” said Lekoma.

She said the salt is already on the shelves of some retailers in the local market adding that they have already appointed a distributor who is servicing the local market.

“This distributor has already listed the salt with several large retailers and wholesalers across the country,” she said.

Botsalt will be competing against locally-produced Flamingo Salt and the Cerebos which is produced by Botash’s sister company, Chlor Alkali Holdings (CAH) Group, a South African company. Cerebos is owned by CAH, which holds 50% stake in Botash. CAH also owns part of the Walvis Bay port where salt is made and they compete with Botash regionally.

Earlier Botash said Botsalt has been embraced in Zambia and that they did not see Cerebos as competition as they were part of them and are learning a lot from them in terms of marketing. They are also assisting them enter the retail sector and build their brand because they are registered with reputable supermarkets.

Botash produces 300,000 tonnes of soda ash and 650,000 tonnes of salt annually. The company exports about 42% of its salt to South Africa, followed by Zambia (24%), Zimbabwe (16%), Malawi at seven percent, DRC with two percent while four percent is used in the country for cattle feeding.

Locally, government is the main Botash customer as they buy bulk of the salt mostly for livestock. During the past year, government purchased P20 million worth of salt from Botash.

In April last year, the government banned imports of less than 100kg of packaged salt in a move aimed at stimulating domestic production and creating employment.

The ban was imposed because the raw material is available in Botswana and the need to develop the value chain of the specific sector.