TANZANIA TO BECOME THE FOURTH BIGGEST PRODUCER OF IRON IN AFRICA BY 2018

Tanzania is expected to become the fourth biggest producer of iron in Africa by 2018 when Liganga steel plant in Njombe Region's Ludewa District starts full production, with an average turnout of one million tons per annum.

"We started the process of confirming the resource immediately after signing the contract with the Chinese company and finally conclude that the project is viable," Head of Chemical Industries at the National Development Corporation (NDC), Mr. Abdallah Mandwanga said.

He pointed out that the ground work has been completed but the project was only being frustrated by the presence of poor infrastructure in the area.

"The government approved our request and currently improvement of the road is going on, we expect that the end of August the work will be over and all machines to be used in the plant will be transported to the site for installation," he added.

Tanzania will be the fourth after South Africa that produces 8.5 million tons of iron per year. Other leading iron ore producing countries include Egypt (eight million) and Libya (two million tons).

Currently, the country's 21 steel industries produce only 200,000 tons of iron against the annual demand of 800,000 tons. The 600,000 tons of iron consumed in the country are imported.

It is estimated that 1.55 billion tons of iron is produced globally per year.