SOUBRE, Ivory Coast—Natural rubber producer the Societe Africaine de Plantations d'Heveas has started construction work on six new natural rubber processing plants in Soubre, in southwestern Ivory Coast.
The $198 million investment will increase SAPH's industrial production capacity to 10 metric tons/hour or 60,000 tons per year, according to an April 8 statement.
An affiliate of the Ivorian agrobusiness group SIFCA and the Societe Internationale de Plantations d'Heveas, SAPH claims to be West Africa's top NR producer, with over 163,000 tons of production each year.
The company employs 5,400 people across five production centers, spanning 24,400 hectares of industrial plantations. It also supervises some 29,000 independent rubber farmers.
The new expansion, SAPH said, will generate 600 direct and indirect jobs as well as business opportunities for the 10,000 rubber planters in the region.
