ZIMBABWE'S BIODIESEL INDUSTRY IN TROUBLE.

SOURCE: oil price

Biofuels have been heavily promoted in the hydrocarbon-poor third world as a fuel source and as a valuable source of foreign exchange however the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is seeking to sell its 50 percent stake in Transload (Pvt) Limited, a biodiesel fuel manufacturing joint venture between Zimbabwe and Yuon Woo Investments of South Korea.

In 2007, Transload (Pvt) Limited was established with massive publicity heralding the project as a partial solution to the country's chronic energy shortage and as a potentially valuable source of foreign revenue. Given the plant's intermittent operations, many economic and investment analysts judged the joint venture harshly, with one commenting that no local investor would want to invest money in such a "white elephant." Nyasha Muchichwa, an economist at the Zimbabwe Economic and Labor Development Research Institute, commented sternly:

"The chances of anyone investing money in such a project, considering our economic and political circumstances, are minimal." Complicating operations at the plant, the first of its kind in Africa, has been its inability to secure consistent raw materials of jatropha seeds and soybeans.