Addis Ababa: June 17,2015 – A new edible oil plant said to be the largest in terms of production capacity will be operational by July 2016.

The factory will be built in the town of Adama, in Oromia regional state after six months by Bekas Chemicals Plc, a local company.

The company today signed a contract agreement with Lushan Win Tone Machinery, a Chinese firm for the importation of technologies.

Up on completion after a year, the plant will help the nation to meet additional 10 percent of the demand locally.

The plant which has the capacity to produce 20,000,000 litters cooking oil per annum will supply 70 percent of its product to the domestic market, while the balance will be exported.

Industry State Minister Mebirhatu Melese said the factory would be the largest vegetable cooking oil plant in Ethiopia

The plant will help the nation reduce the amount of cooking oil that the country imports, which is 325,000,000 litter annually, by 10 percent, he said.

Since Ethiopia imports 70 percent of the edible oil, the government is hopeful to reduce this amount by substituting them locally.

ENA