“I would say that flour mills in Egypt are in an advanced level regarding the technology use in flour production. Indeed, companies fit international standards in technology use. Also the quality of the flour produced in Egypt is known throughout the world as well. In general, while the production meets the domestic demand, the resulting surplus is being exported to other countries.”
This month, our guest is Ashraf Ebrehem MOHAMMED from Egypt. General Manager in the mechanical part of Egyptian National Company for Milling and Food Industry, MOHAMMED has significant experiences in milling industry. We talked about Egyptian National Company for Milling and Food Industry and Egyptian market with Ashraf Ebrehem MOHAMMED who has worked in many technology companies.
Mr. Mohammed, first of all could you introduce yourself?
I have 30 years of experience in the milling industry. Previously, I worked with technology companies like Bühler and Sangati Berga. There are also technology producers originating in Turkey among the companies I work with. I came to Turkey even twice to visit the IDMA Fair in the past. For me it was very useful to visit the training.
What kind of products does your company produce? Could you tell us a little about your position in the Egyptian market and the production you company performs?
As Egyptian National Company for Flour Milling and Food Industry, we are performing the first quality flour production in Egypt. We produce both fine and coarse flour as well as production of semolina. When we consider the Egyptian market, the flour varieties that we produce is considered as “quality.”
I would say that our daily production capacity is 200 tons. We can evaluate the technology that we use in production as mostly mid-level technologies. Among the technologies we use, there is a Turkish company, Unormak machines.
Are there other areas that you serve as well as the production?
as well as flour production, we allow the companies producing pasta and semolina to produce pasta and feed for us by supplying them raw materials as flour and semolina. Namely, we perform contract manufacturing for ourselves. We carry out the fodder production with the remaining from bran production.
Do you work only for the Egyptian market in flour milling? Do you work for export or have any target for this?
Currently, we only carry out production for the Egyptian market. Of course, like every manufacturer, we would like to export to other countries in the world. Maybe we can also work for exports in the upcoming years.
Could you give us some information about flour industry and flour consumption habits in your country?
As you know, Egypt is the world's largest corn importer. Every year we consume of around 18-19 million tons of wheat and we import around 10-11 million tons of wheat. Flour covers 4-5 million tons of consumption. Namely, annual flour consumption in Egypt is around 4-5 million tons. 72 percent of consumers prefer sifted fine flour which is considered to be luxurious flour.
In terms of milling technology use, flour production amount, quality and consumption, where does Egypt stand?
I would say that flour mills in Egypt are in an advanced level regarding the technology use in flour production. Indeed, companies fit international standards in technology use. Also the quality of the flour produced in Egypt is known throughout the world as well.
In general, while the production meets the domestic demand, the resulting surplus is being exported to other countries. In the milling sector of Egypt, there are very large companies that perform the flour production. It is known that the largest of these firms are known to have exported to almost 23 countries in the world.
In the future, what do you think about the development of your country particularly for flour industry?
I can start by saying that after the opening of the Suez Canal, Egypt began to develop a great deal. With the canal project, logistics projects also started and new storage space have emerged in the light of these developments. A new wheat silos were established. Our government is providing great convenience to the private sector as well as public interest in the use of these new areas. I think that these developments will continue. Therefore, all these developments will make an important contribution to both Egypt’s flour production and flour export in the upcoming years.
Finally, what would you like to add?
I would like to thank the Miller Magazine family for providing us such an opportunity. I also would like to thank for IDMA Exhibition that I attended in 2015. The exhibition has been highly successful both as an organization and as participating companies and the technologies they exhibited. We see each fair is more advanced than the previous one. We look forward to meet with you again in the IDMA Exhibition in the following years.