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Wednesday, 07 February 2018
 

The First of Its Kind in Sudan

The Sudanese President Inaugurates the Iodized Salt Shafie Factory
 
(Report by GMS) The Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir will inaugurate in Port Sudan on the Red Coast the first factory in Sudan to produce the iodized salt on the seventh of February. The factory is one of the industrial projects of Etaam (Feeding) Investment Company. The factory capacity is ten tones of iodized salt per hour. Having a total production of more than 70,000 tons per year, Shafie is expected to cover 35 per cent of the Sudanese local need of this vital commodity, in addition to export the product to some neighboring countries, like Ethiopia. The Etaam Investment Company is the investment arm of the Sudanese Food Bank, which is a charity organization. Shafie factory has been established in Port Sudan where the salt raw material is plenty on the Red Sea coast. The manager of the Company Mr. Ali Bundug told GMS that the need for a healthy salt treated with iodine was the main motive which drove them towards establishing Shafie factory for the production of iodized salt.  Etaam Company is chaired by the former first vice president in Sudan, Sheikh Ali Osman Mohammad Taha. The man resorted to humanitarian works after he left power.  Furthermore the WFP has warned that no country is to export a single gram of salt not treated by iodine by 2018, according to Bundug. The lack of iodine is causing a series of health hazards, Bundug said.
The Shafie Factory is established on the main road linking the capital of the Red Sea state, Port Sudan with its international airport, about 20 kilometers away. The equipment of the factory has been imported from the Spanish Serra company, a leading company in manufacturing such equipment. About two billion people, almost the quarter of the world population are suffering from iodine deficiency, according to international medical reports.