CAMEROON – The Cameroon government has inaugurated a 13 billion FCFA (US$21.7M) wheat processing plant in Kribi, in a public-private partnership between the state and La Pasta S.A. Company, a subsidiary of the CADYST Group.
Since its creation in 2005, the Cadyst Group presents a model of economic and industrial development in Cameroon with the industrial production of flour, pasta, and biscuits.
Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry, the Interim Minister of Mines, Industry, and Technological Development, presided over the inaugural ceremony on January 10, stressing that the plant is a concrete expression of the government’s strategy to increase infrastructure capacity for wheat processing and storage.
In the inaugural statement, Calistus revealed that the plant, located in Kribi, Ocean Division of the South Region covers an area of 1.6 hectares with a crushing capacity of 300 to 350 tonnes of flour per day.
The plant comprises a production area housed in a five-story building; a raw materials storage area with a capacity of 24,000 tonnes, equipped with an ecological reception system; and an analysis and research laboratory equipped with the latest technology to ensure quality control from raw material to finished product.
It also includes a weighbridge with an 80-ton capacity, a reception pit with a capacity of 300 tonnes per day, administrative offices, an infirmary, a staff canteen, a modern public living area including parking, public toilets, rest areas, and a mosque
According to Prof Fuh Calistus, the plant will help strengthen the country’s food security and reduce the negative impact of imports on the trade balance, which has been profoundly affected by multiple crises on the international scene.
“This project, which brings us together here today in Kribi, is a concrete expression of the government’s strategy to increase our infrastructure capacity for wheat processing and storage, through a public-private partnership,” the minister said.
He added that the government could not remain insensitive to the republican choice of CADYST Group in setting up the plant poised to secure the national need for wheat flour, which amounts to nearly 800,000 tonnes a year.
Celestin Tawamba, the President of CADYST Group acknowledged the support and efforts of the various authorities towards the inauguration of the plant.
He highlighted that CADYST Group has a vision of feeding and caring for the people of Cameroon and the Central African sub-region, with the ambition of becoming a major actor in the industrial transformation of the country.
The flour mill was set up with a sum of about 13 billion FCFA, including a 5.5 billion FCFA bank loan supported by SCB Cameroon.
For all the latest grains industry news from Africa, the Middle East, and the World, subscribe to our weekly NEWSLETTERS, follow us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
