Mozambican vegetable oil refineries have imported more than 1.3 million tons of crude cooking oil in the last eight years, worth around 88.7 billion meticais.

"We want the money used for imports to be used for our economic activity, possibly to promote the production of oilseeds and other activities, creating more jobs and contributing more taxes," said the Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, who was speaking at a seminar on the value chain for the production of edible oils and soaps, held on Thursday in Maputo.

The seminar is also being held in response to an inquiry into the recent study carried out by the anti-corruption NGO Centro de Integridade Pública (CIP) on the impact of Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions on the end consumer.

"We want the companies that extract the oil from the raw material to refine it and put the product on the market at an acceptable value, while maintaining consumption by the population," said Moreno.

The Minister believes that the country has great agricultural potential and an agro-industry to boost Mozambique's Industrialization Programme (PRONAI).

"The government wants to use VAT exemptions to boost industry. We don't want to think of exemptions just as a way of feeding trade, we don't want operators to settle for that," said the minister. (AIM)