Nyasa partners South Africa firm
By Mphatso Malidadi:
Local cigarette manufacturer, Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC), has entered into a partnership with a South Africa- based multinational firm, Gold Leaf Tobacco Limited.
The partnership would see Malawi becoming a regional hub of cigarette production for the firm.
NMC Chairman, Konrad Buckle, confirmed in an interview on the sidelines of a press briefing held in Blantyre on Wednesday.
Buckle said the partnership would bring multiple benefits to the company and the country.
“This is a 50-50 partnership. Gold Leaf is coming in with state-of-the-art machinery that would be able to produce high volumes of cigarettes within a short time.
Advertisement“This would help reduce production costs for our products, hence making the company more competitive on the international market,” he said.
Buckle said the benefits of the partnership would trickle down to people through job creation.
He also said the company would increase number of its brands as it would fuse in Gold Leaf brands.
“As NMC, we produce cigarette brands for low to medium income earners while Gold Leaf produces brands for medium to upper class customers. This means our brands will be fused, hence we will be able to produce cigarettes for customers across the board,” he said.
