Rwanda’s first milk-powder factory will begin producing consumer-ready products by September to serve both local and export markets, The New Times has learned.

Launched in mid-2024, the plant is owned by Inyange Industries. It has so far only produced industrial-grade milk powder for reconstituted milk, not direct consumption.

For the past one year, it has sold 718 tonnes of such powder, with 90 percent exported and the rest sold locally. The current price is about Rwf8,000 per kilogram, aligned with international rates.

"We are diversifying to produce instant milk powder so that people can use it just like NIDO [an imported milk powder brand],” the company's Managing Director, James Biseruka, said on August 8 during a tour of the facility by Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva.