The $15m facility will allow Cargill to improve the discharging rates of its vessels and better manage logistics. The company wants to improve its service to large-scale customers and to customers purchasing smaller quantities of grain.
The silo is also expected to help the firm develop new business opportunities in the country.
Domestic customers
A Cargill spokesperson told FoodNavigator: “The facility will primarily supply domestic customers. Morocco has a young and fast growing population. In addition, people’s rising spending power is influencing dietary and food purchasing choices and this has led to an increasing consumption of vegetable oils and animal protein, adding to the existing high wheat consumption.
“ Morocco, however, is deficit in a number of key staple commodities. This silo investment will significantly enhance our ability to serve our Moroccan flour milling and compound feed customers.”
Larbi Hamdouch, general manager of Cargill’s grain and oilseeds operations in Morocco, added: “This investment highlights our commitment to the country and its economy and will allow us to link more efficiently into Cargill’s global network to connect surplus grain, from other parts of the world, to our Moroccan customers.”
New rail links to the storage facility will help to minimize truck traffic through the city of Casablanca.
Carob pods
The facility will employ about 12 people. Cargill employs a further 120 people from its bases in Casablanca, Fez and Essaouira.
Active in the country since 1997, the company has operations in the trading, distribution and storage of grains and oilseeds, risk management and technical services, specialty food ingredients including texturizers, flavours and sweeteners.
In 2006 Cargill acquired Degussa's Food Ingredients business, including its Moroccan sites in Fez and Essaouira. These facilities process locally-grown carob pods into locust bean gum, a gelling and thickening agent used in food applications.
Meanwhile, last month the company resumed cocoa and chocolate operations at its production facility in the Ivory Coast following the recent political crisis in the country.
Exports of cocoa products and beans resumed from the main ports of Abidjan and San Pedro after the EU lifted trading restrictions.
Jos de Loor, managing director of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, said: “The situation is continuing to improve with visible and practical signs that the country is on the road to recovery following the months of instability and uncertainty.”