•Comes under  the hammer today • Fails to clear Rwf 3bn loan

KIGALI - A re-knowned coffee export and processing company, Rwandex  will be liquidated today after the firm failed to clear its Rwf3 billion loan it owes several banks.

According to the liquidators, the sale of the company’s assets that include its factory will be done in Gikondo this morning. Another coffee factory belonging to the defunct firm and located in Rubavu, Western province will also be sold off.

The government through its Privatization secretariat announced its closure in February last year.

The company will be liquidated after its management suspended operations leaving local banks up in arms demanding management to pay back its outstanding Rwf 3 billion loan.

Bank de Kigali (BK) named the company to be the biggest defaulter, demanding Rwf 2.169bn while Banque Populaire du Rwanda and COGEBAQUE are owed a combined Rwf 1.1bn.

Government had a 51 per cent stake through Ocir Café and Ocir The. The company’s export volumes dropped by 50 percent in 2003 and a further 15 per cent in 2004 when the coffee sector was liberalized.

Before folding in, Rwandex was exporting between 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes of ordinary coffee fetching between $9 million to $10 million annually.

The company is currently valued at $2.7m (about Frw1.4 billion). Government 51 per cent shareholding was valued at over Frw576m.

The shutting down of Rwandex comes at a time when the sector is promising. Nationwide earnings for this year are projected to rise to $60 million from 28,000 tonnes. 

Almost 30 percent of this export volume will go into the lucrative US market.

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