The state-owned Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has initiated negotiations to acquire the privately owned Ensis cannery and processing plant in Hulhumalé, aiming to restore a strategically significant industrial asset and strengthen the company’s fish processing capacity.
The facility has remained inactive for approximately eighteen months. MIFCO confirmed that technical assessments of its operational potential have been completed and that the company intends to invest in advanced machinery and equipment to recommence production. Discussions with Ensis Fisheries Pvt. Ltd., the plant's current owner, are ongoing, according to MIFCO.
Commissioned on 9 December 2019 following a capital investment of USD 25 million (MVR 385 million), the Ensis factory was, at the time of its inauguration, the largest fish processing facility in the Greater Malé region. Designed with a daily canning capacity of 25 tonnes of fish, the plant also includes a 1,000-tonne ice production unit and storage infrastructure capable of accommodating 1,200 tonnes of chilled fish. A fishmeal plant, intended to convert fish waste into fertiliser, further reflects the facility's integrated approach to marine resource utilisation.
Despite its technical sophistication, the factory ceased operations due to financial pressures stemming from a policy shift under the previous administration. Ensis Fisheries, which employed approximately 200 personnel at the site, attributed the closure to a mandated increase in the purchase price of skipjack tuna to USD 1.62 per kilogram, a change the company said resulted in unsustainable losses.
Established in 2002, Ensis Fisheries initially focused on the export of skipjack tuna to international markets. The company expanded its operations in 2006 with the launch of its first fish factory and subsequently introduced its proprietary brand, Enzy, distributing processed fish products both domestically and abroad.