What a production line really costs — why equipment is only 35–55% of the project.
TL;DR: The machine price you see on a quote from China is 35–55% of what a running line will cost you. Freight, duty, clearance, civils, utilities, installation, commissioning, training and first spares make up the rest. Plan with the landed-and-installed factor — ×1.25–1.45 into coastal markets, ×1.45–1.60 landlocked — and no stage of the project can ambush you. Discovering this in month four is the single most common first-time-buyer disaster.
The most expensive number in African manufacturing
It's the FOB price. Not because it's high — because it's the number people build their funding around. A buyer raises capital for the machine, spends it on the machine, and then discovers the machine is roughly half the project. The result is the saddest asset class on the continent: crated equipment standing in a warehouse, fully paid for and producing nothing, while the owner hunts for the money to install it.
Publishing the full arithmetic up front costs us deals with buyers who prefer a prettier number. We publish it anyway, because the buyers we want are the ones who plan with real ones.
Where the other half goes
| Cost block | Typical share of total project | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment (FOB China) | 35–55% | The machines, ex-factory, tested before shipping |
| Freight & insurance | 5–12% | Sea freight, inland legs, insurance; higher for landlocked destinations and abnormal loads |
| Duty, VAT & clearance | 5–15% | Tariffs (confirmed per line, per country, at quote time), import VAT where applicable, clearing costs |
| Civils & building works | 5–15% | Slabs, drainage, walls and roofing changes — the block first-time buyers most often forget entirely |
| Utilities | 5–12% | Power connection and upgrades, standby generation where the site needs it, water treatment, compressed air, steam |
| Installation & commissioning | 8–15% | Rigging, mechanical and electrical installation, run-up to the agreed output on your product |
| Training, documentation & first spares | 3–8% | Operator and maintenance training, procedures, the wear-part kit that keeps year one calm |
Shares move with geography and line type — that's why we quote projects, not formulas. But the total lands remarkably consistently inside the factors we publish: ×1.25–1.45 on equipment for coastal markets (Tanzania, Mozambique via Maputo, Ghana, Nigeria) and ×1.45–1.60 landlocked (Zimbabwe, Zambia). Pure recovery projects on existing equipment run lighter: ×1.15–1.25.
A worked example
Take a US$250k entry filling-and-packaging line into a coastal market:
- Equipment (FOB): US$250k
- Everything else: US$62k–112k (freight, duty, civils, utilities, installation, commissioning, training, first spares)
- Realistic project total: US$312k–362k (×1.25–1.45)
Landlocked, the same line plans at US$362k–400k. If a proposal for this class of line shows a total materially below these bands, one of the blocks above is missing from it — and it will reappear later, at the least convenient moment, as "an extra."
The failure mode: funding the FOB price plus "a bit for shipping." The line arrives; duty and clearance consume the contingency; the slab isn't poured; the transformer upgrade is a surprise; commissioning is "phase two." Every month of that limbo costs finance charges on equipment that produces nothing. The fix costs nothing: plan with the factor from day one.
Three questions that keep a quote honest
- "What's excluded?" — the most valuable question in procurement. An honest supplier answers in writing, block by block.
- "What does commissioning mean, exactly?" — installed-and-switched-on is not the same as running-at-the-agreed-output-on-your-product. Only the second one is a line.
- "What do I pay in year one after handover?" — spares, maintenance, training refreshers. (Typical honest answer: a maintenance-and-spares arrangement at 3–8% of line value per year.)
Why we publish this
Because the experience gap — "we've never run a line like this before" — is at its most expensive right here, before anything is bought. Every CISH feasibility comes back with the full landed-and-installed band for your country in writing, and every quote itemises the blocks above. Same function, a fraction of European capital cost — with the whole number visible, not just the flattering half.
Want the real number for your line?
Product, volume, country. The feasibility call is free, and the band comes back in writing.