Of the total investments of the group that owns the Delta coffee brand, about half was financed through PRODESI, the Government's program that aims to support import substitution and diversify exports.
"Angonabeiro is making a total investment of 8.9 billion kwanzas (12.7 million euros) to strengthen its productive capacity, improve the quality of its product and reinforce the export of Ginga coffee", said the official company, during a visit to the factory in Luanda.
Miguel Carvalho also explained that the achievements of the covid-19 pandemic in the coffee business were felt mainly at the beginning, but he was optimistic about the results until the end of the year.
"We had a relatively large change in the sales profile, the company was very dedicated to hotels, restaurants and cafes and this consumption is being replaced by consumption at home", he declared.
"We went through a difficult period in the months immediately after the state of emergency, but nowadays sales are showing positive values", he added, adding that the invoicing must be "better than last year", without detailing the forecasts.
In 2020, Angonabeiro plans to buy around two thousand tons of coffee in the country, for the export of green coffee and the production of the Ginga brand for the Angolan market and for export.
By April, 160 tonnes of coffee from the previous harvest had been exported, and from August, with the new harvest, Angonabeiro expects to restart exports, having planned to export 1200 tonnes of green coffee, which represents an increase of 203 percent compared to last year's figures, sold exclusively to Portugal.
Miguel Carvalho assumed, however, some additional difficulties in transporting coffee from the provinces to Luanda, which is under a sanitary fence, at this early stage of the harvest.
"We could have more coffee to work with right now if there was no pandemic situation," he stressed.
Exports would also be facilitated by changes to the rules of the National Bank of Angola, which currently requires the use of letters of credit.
"We think that there are slightly different financial instruments that could make the product get abroad at more competitive prices," he suggested.
"This company is within the main objectives of PRODESI, which is to replace imports and they are also exporting - Ginga coffee (processed) and green coffee, exporting almost 50 percent of the country's total," said the secretary of state. for Planning, Milton Reis, who visited the coffee factory facilities.
"The objective is to support this company in order to work together to streamline the coffee production process throughout its chain," said Milton Reis, who was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Industry, Ivan Pardo and the Secretary of State for Commerce. , Amadeu Nunes.
Milton Reis said that the Ministry of Economy and Planning is working with the provincial governments to establish and financially support 15 cooperatives in each province, among which some should be oriented towards coffee production.
Regarding some of the difficulties pointed out during the visit, namely the scarce coffee production, the Secretary of State acknowledged that "capacity is very low" and "there is room" to increase coffee production.
The official also admitted that access to credit is not easy even because banks "are not used to" supporting the productive sector, but considered that "it is not only the banks' fault" as there are "deficiencies" in the elaboration of processes.
"We are creating conditions for credit to occur, because money exists," he stressed, saying that banks are also restructuring themselves in this sense because "it is in the productive sector that they will be able to increase their business in the future".
The PRODESI support program is being materialized in the renovation of the green coffee processing lines, with the implementation of a new roaster, new packaging lines for coffee beans and ground coffee, new labelers, as well as the construction project for a green coffee repackaging line and another coffee capsule production line.
Angonabeiro employs more than 100 workers, 95 percent of whom are Angolans.
