The China-Egypt TEDA trade zone is about to get a new chemicals factory: Suez Canal Economic Zone Chief Walid Gamal El Din laid the foundation stone for the Kemedi Chemical Company’s new USD 30 mn chemical manufacturing in the TEDA industrial zone in Ain Sokhna, according to a SCZone statement.

The largest in Egypt – and also the region: Gamal El Din said that he expects the factory to become the largest producer of calcium hypochlorite in Egypt and Africa, with the facility targeting an annual production of over 40k annually, according to the statement.

The factory should go online in seven months: The factory is set to begin production on 1 May next year and create 100 direct jobs.

Déjà vu? It appears that we first heard about the project back in May when the project was announced — but with a cost of only USD 17.2 mn.

China plays a prominent role in the SCZone: So far, there are upwards of 160 Chinese companies that have established bases in the zone, who have collectively invested around USD 2 bn, El Din said.

And is set to play an ever bigger role in the future: Regular readers of Enterprise will be familiar with news of Chinese companies looking to open up factories in Egypt — and often with headline-grabbing investment price tags attached. The most recent swath of big-ticket investment news coming from China was a raft of contracts and MoUs with Chinese companies totaling over USD 1.1 bn signed at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing earlier this month.

** Want to know more about Chinese industrial investments in the country? We took a deep dive into growing Chinese industrial investments in an Inside Industry last month, highlighting recent projects, future plans, and government efforts to attract more Chinese capital across various sectors.

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