Fig Tree Fruit Processing Project

The Fig Tree Fruit Processing Project is envisaged to be a fruit and vegetable processing plant that will adopt a hybrid technology allowing a single processing line to switch and process a variety of fruits all year round. The envisaged primary finished products from the hybrid processing plant will be tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomato chutney and tomato puree. It will also have capabilities to produce fruit juices, pulp, and jams. The Fig Tree Fruit Processing Project will operate under the company name Fig Tree Fruit Processing Limited, which is a subsidiary of Zambia Fruit Company that is wholly owned by Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). The project site is in Chisamba, Central Province of Zambia and covers a total area of 20 hectares. The Project is open for FDI through a minority or majority stake and will cost approximately ZMW 258.5 million (USD US$ 15.2 million). The key project costs include equipment procurement and installation, civil works, utility vehicles, development costs and working capital. The IDC has secured ZMW 17.7 millio (US$ 1.04 million) for early-stage development activities, consultation services and civil construction and is now seeking equity partners to close the financing gap of ZMW 240.8 million (US$ 14.16 million). FTFP is expected to generate positive operating cashflows during operations. The project is expected to achieve a sustainable 56 to 60% Gross Profit Margin, 31 to 37% EBITDA Margin and 0 to 22% Net Profit margin. FTFP has a project payback period of 8 years with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 40.4%. The project is expected to generate post debt service free cashflows in excess of US$ 13.23 million over the first ten years of operation.

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