Bakhresa launches US$100M cooking oil refinery in Malawi, targets 150,000MT soya market

MALAWI – Bakhresa Malawi Limited has launched a MWK 175.1 billion (US$100 million) cooking oil refinery in Blantyre, reinforcing its industrial footprint and offering a significant boost to the country’s agri-processing capacity.

Commissioned by President Lazarus Chakwera on July 17, the facility marks a major step in Malawi’s drive toward agro-industrial transformation, offering local farmers access to a secure market for their soya beans.

The refinery, with a daily crushing capacity of 500 metric tonnes (MT), is projected to purchase up to 150,000MT of soya beans each harvest season from rural producers.

“At the moment, Malawi already has the capacity to process 600,000 tonnes of soya, and this Bakhresa plant will now mean we can process close to 800,000 metric tonnes,” President Chakwera said during the inauguration.

He challenged stakeholders to address supply-side constraints, adding, “The question I want us to grapple with in the second term of my presidency is where is the 800,000 metric tonnes of soya to be processed at factories like this going to come from?”

The plant is expected to directly employ 500 people and indirectly support thousands more through its extensive value chain, ranging from farming to logistics.

The facility aligns with the goals of Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development vision to attain inclusive wealth creation and industrialisation. Bakhresa’s investment further enhances the country’s capacity for import substitution and value addition, positioning Malawi as a competitive agro-processor in the Southern African region.

The factory launch comes at a time when many sectors in Malawi are scaling down operations due to persistent macroeconomic challenges.

Speaking at the event, Bakhresa Malawi General Manager Venkatesh Rao Pattipati noted that the project had faced setbacks, including foreign exchange shortages, weather disruptions, and bureaucratic delays that pushed the commissioning from 2023 to 2025.

“One such challenge is the 30 percent mandatory conversion of export proceeds to the Reserve Bank of Malawi, which discourages formal exports and local manufacturing,” said Pattipati, citing the need for macroeconomic reforms to incentivise industrial activity and curb informal trading practices.

He also highlighted that the company’s cooking oil brand, Soyalite, introduced into the market during the plant’s initial operations phase, has already triggered a market correction—prompting a 20% drop in cooking oil prices among competitors.

A two-litre bottle of Soyalite now retails at approximately K13,000, compared to K17,000 for other brands, increasing affordability for consumers.

Economist and National Working Group on Trade and Policy chairperson Frederick Changaya underscored the need for harmonised monetary and fiscal policies to support such investments.

“There should be coherence where monetary and fiscal policies are in sync. Oftentimes, they are not,” said Changaya, who also serves as managing director of Applecore Grain & Milling Limited.

Trade and Industry Minister Vitumbiko Mumba reaffirmed government commitment to strengthening local manufacturing through policies such as the forthcoming National Industrial Policy, targeted foreign exchange allocations for key sectors, and the streamlining of trade licensing in strategic industries.

“As a government, we are creating the conditions. But we cannot industrialise Malawi with foreign investment alone. We need greater participation of local entrepreneurs in manufacturing,” Mumba said.

Bakhresa Malawi Limited, a key beneficiary of Malawi’s privatisation programme through its acquisition of the former state-owned Grain and Milling Company, has since evolved into a diversified player. The company runs modern wheat mills with a combined capacity of 500MT/day, a soap production facility, and 50,000MT wheat storage infrastructure.

It forms part of the Tanzania-headquartered Bakhresa Group, a regional conglomerate with over 30 subsidiaries in nine African countries, operating across 28 industrial and service sectors.

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