Vehbi El Besyoni,  Benghazi National Mills:  “Our facilities have a capacity of 1200 tons of bread flour production and a capacity of 300 tons of semolina production on solid production line. Our feed facilities have a process capacity of 160 tons. Our pasta factories have a daily production capacity of 120 tons on 4 lines. Our warehouses allocated for the storage of solely grain have a capacity of 120.000 tons. ”

This month, the guest of Miller Magazine is the Benghazi National Milling Company of Libya Engineer Vehbi El Besyoni. The Benghazi National Milling Company which has an experience of close to 50 years produces flour, bran and semolina.

Stating that they daily produce 1200 tons of bread wheat flour in their facilities, El Besyoni added that the storage silos in Banghazi, Ebyar, El Meraç, Casablanca and Tobruk cities have a capacity of 1200 tons of bread flour production. Besyoni specified that they wanted to realize in the future investments for grain storages near the port and they will carry out maintenance works at the existing mills.

The firm’s Engineer Vehbi El Besyoni gives us information on the Benghazi National Milling Company’s operations, the technologies used and the need for raw material and future plans.

Mr. Vehbi El Besyoni, could you give us some information on your firm Benghazi National Milling Company? When was it established and how did it come to these days? Benghazi National Milling Company is a production and industrial company tied to the Ministry of Economy and Industry. Benghazi National Milling Company was established in 1971 and it enlarged in 1984 with some additions and started to be engaged in feed industry and grain silos.

Our firm is engaged in the production of flour, bran and semolina. As a secondary product, we manufacture pasta. Thirdly, we produce all kinds of animal feed. Another field of expertise of our company is the storage silos for the grain. Lastly, we market our products within Libya and in particular, in the north of the country.

Our control center is in the city of Benghazi and grain mills are in El Mereç and Tobruk cities. Our facilities have a capacity of 1200 tons of bread flour production and a capacity of 300 tons of semolina production on solid production line. Our feed facilities in Benghazi, Ebyar, Casablanca and Tobruk cities have a process capacity of 160 tons. Our pasta factory is in Benghazi and it has a daily production capacity of 120 tons on 4 lines. The storage silos are in Benghazi, Ebyar, El Meraç, Casablanca and Tobruk cities and they have a capacity of 120.000 tons. They are solely for grain storage and are not tied to the factories.

What can you tell us about your production facilities, capacity and the technologies used? The technologies used in the milling are roller and dry humidification systems. In addition, we have quite fine cleaning systems, central weighing devices, and automatic and manual operation systems. All the old and new mills are made by Italian Ocrim Company and the feed factory and pasta factory are by Bühler.

What is your raw material outlook? How do you meet your demand for raw material? The purchase of soft wheat is carried out through the legal purchase by the international companies specializing in their respective fields. The grain registered with the company is generally procured from the Black Sea countries and the grain-producing European Union countries as they are close to the Libyan ports. The said grain mainly consists of soft wheat, barley and yellow corn. The hard wheat is procured from the United States and Mexico where the demand is the highest. In addition, we use quality local hard wheat though in a limited amount.

All grain raw materials (wheat and other ingredients of different species) are subject to the Libya Measurement Standards regulated by the national technical and measurement standards center. This committee is legally authorized and other produced materials are subject to the Libyan standards. Likewise, the foodstuff brought for technical control are subject to the controls before entering Libya and the institution responsible for this is the National Foodstuffs And Agricultural Products Control Center.

Could you give us information on the consumption patterns of flour and bakery products in your country? For which products is the flour most used in your country? Libya is the country where the bread is the cheapest all over the world as it has a supporting system because the wheat is bought at the international prices by the milling companies and it is transferred at the international prices to the wheat fund by the wheat milling companies. Then, approximately 1.5 million tons of wheat annually is sold to the bakeries in line with the annual consumption rate. While Libya was importing wheat in 1980s, it made great progress with the construction of modern bakeries and started to produce more wheat. The Libyan bread is generally likened to the Turkish bread and the annual domestic flour production exceeds 135 kg. The wheat flour is used in the fresh human food field and the hard wheat obtained from the hard semolina is used in the production of couscous, a basic food in Libya. On the other hand, the soft semolina is used in the pasta industry and hard flour mills are directly related to the pasta industry. Barn is a secondary product used in the feed industry.

What are your future targets? Do you plan to make any investment in the future? Among our targets are the future investments projects for the grain storages preferably close to the ports or the development of the existing mills and their maintenance, operating requirements and the renewal of gear tools at the model mills and projects to specially increase agricultural investments for soft wheat production. As someone who saw the great progress in the milling industry of Turkey, we wish success to those who held the previous two İDMA fairs for the next one and I wish to extend my thanks to the Miller Magazine showing great interest in this regard.

Industry of Turkey, we wish success to those who held the previous two İDMA fairs for the next one and I wish to extend my thanks to the Miller Magazine showing great interest in this regard.