Chinese firm to invest $4m in Senegal groundnut project

A Chinese company, Qingdao Golden Rock Nuts Co., has agreed with the Kaolack Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (CCIAK) to invest more than 2 billion CFA Francs (4 million U.S. dollars) in the construction of a groundnuts transformation plant in Senegal's central town of Saloum. CCIAK's Secretary General Abdoulaye Thiam on Thursday said the partnership was bolstered by the recent cooperation agreement signed on Feb. 21 by CCIAK President Serigne Mboup and the director general of the Chinese firm, Li Hongdong. The officials of the two institutions signed the agreement on the sidelines of a state visit to Beijing by Senegal's President Macky Sall. Specialized in the transformation and export of agricultural products, Li's firm is considered as one of the major actors in export of groundnuts to European Union (EU) countries. The plant to be set up in Kaolack will be named "Sino- Senegalese Joint-Venture Agricultural Corporation SA." The company will create hundreds of jobs and will link local farmers to international groundnuts market. The Kaolack groundnuts transformation unit, which will have Senegalese shareholders, will have agricultural machines, transport vehicles, husking machines as well as other equipment for the transformation process, Thiam said. CCIAK promised to get the necessary commitment from the government for the 5 hectares needed for the construction of the transformation plant