Bichara Al Khawam
Area Sales Manager Grain Quality & Supply
Bühler

Fast growing Oman-based Sohar Flour Mills partners with Bühler to boost its operational capacity. In a major expansion project, Bühler delivered a fully automated grain handling and storage solution, including high-capacity steel silos, advanced intake lines, and hygienic truck loading systems, helping the mill set new benchmarks in efficiency, food safety, and reliability.

Founded in 2017, Sohar Flour Mills is Oman’s largest food manufacturer and has a proud tradition of producing 100% natural, premium quality products. The company’s strategic location has already seen it evolve into a key contributor to Oman’s food security and economic development.

Sohar Flour Mills operates a 216,000-tonne-capacity plant that can function both as a conventional mill and a ‘chakki atta’ mill to produce wholewheat flour for chapatis, paratha and kulcha. Alongside premium and all-purpose flour, the facility’s products include ‘Arabic flour’, baker’s flour, pizza flour, semolina, wheat bran and barley.

The plant is based at one of the fastest-growing ports in the world, the deep-sea SOHAR Port and Freezone. Capable of accommodating the largest ships, the port is located near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important shipping routes and the only maritime passage from the Persian Gulf to the open sea. 

International access

It’s this perfect setting that allows the port to serve the booming economies of the Indian subcontinent and the gulf – giving it a reach of more than 2 billion consumers. Sohar Flour Mills has always aimed to maximize the potential of its position at the centre of global trade routes and what it describes as the “easy local, regional and international market access”, with most of its flour exported to Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

The company’s dynamic growth meant that it recently took the decision to add an extra 160,000 tonnes of storage capacity. Sohar’s commitment to sustainability and food safety – as well as the need for a reliable partner that could provide much-needed stability during the volatile situation in the Middle East – led it to choose the Switzerland-based grain handling experts Bühler AG. 

Expanded storage

The Bühler project saw the expert installation of two rows of six steel silos supplied by Symaga – with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes per row – to ensure the safe storage of Sohar’s grain. The silos are designed to be robust, durable and able to withstand challenging environmental conditions, while the closed, reversible conveyors below help to guarantee smooth, flexible and low-dust grain flow. 

Also included in the project were two ship intake lines, each with a capacity of 600 tonnes per hour, along with 20 chain conveyors. Eighteen of these have a capacity of 600 tonnes per hour, while the remaining two have a 200 tonne-capacity, and are complemented by seven elevators, two roller-trough belt conveyors for the ship intake lines, and five fully enclosed belt conveyors. The new plant also has four 200-tonne-per-hour truck loading lines, each leading to a 300-tonne corrugated metal silo. 

High-performance solution

Meticulous planning and close partnership working ensured that the project was completed on schedule, meaning the new facility could be up and running without delay. One key feature of the new plant is its advanced truck loading system, which enables the rapid and seamless unloading and weighing of grain. Automated control systems ensure that transport to the truck loading lines, mill or silo is always smooth and efficient, cutting waiting times, streamlining processes and boosting overall performance. 

The facility’s high level of automation also helps to guarantee optimum food hygiene – something that’s of vital important to Sohar – and the building’s ventilation system enables the air supply to be precisely controlled according to the plant’s needs. The air entering the facility is 100% filtered to remove any risk of contamination, and the consistent over-pressure also makes it almost virtually impossible for any insects to enter the mill building. 

“It’s a very well-connected system, all the way from the unloading into the silos to the mill itself,” says Chief Operations Officer at Oman Flour Mills, Ibrahim Al Amri. “We’re so proud that there’s no human interference into the grains or flour – the whole thing is fully automated, which gives more confidence in terms of the hygiene, safety, and security of the product.”

The expanded plant’s Flour Mill A combi mill now has a capacity of 300 tonnes per 24 hours for straight grade flour and atta 84 flour, or 260 tonnes per 24 hours for atta 95 flour. Flour Mill B, meanwhile, has a capacity of 300 tonnes per 24 hours, and the building is also ready to accommodate a third 300 tonnes-per-24-hour line if the need arises. 

All of the wheat, including that used to produce flour for chapatis, paratha and kulcha, is ground on rolls for food safety and hygiene reasons, rather than by the traditional stone grinding method – Mill A is equipped with Bühler’s high-compression PesaMill which uses steel rolls to produce high-quality atta flour without the traditional risks of stone abrasion or chemical contamination. The PesaMill’s flexible grinding gap adjustment also helps to provide maximum flexibility, helping to further boost the energy efficiency of the entire plant. 

The mill’s overall design allows for clear separation of white and brown products, while the finished product area features a unique direct online truck loading system for the product bags. The entire site is specifically designed to enable the most streamlined product flows possible ‘from sea to truck’ – eliminating the ‘zig-zagging’ often found in traditional plants – and further enhancing efficiency and cutting unnecessary energy use.  

Shared values

The shared values and close partnership of Sohar Flour Mills and Bühler has enabled to fully achieve its operational goals and gain a truly competitive edge, despite market volatility. In the face of challenges, Bühler offers quick and pragmatic solutions, backed by 24/7 service support. “Our engagement with Bühler is more of a partnership than a relationship, and we have full trust in the way we see Bühler grow in terms of the technology, advancement, reliability and customer service,” said Ibrahim Al Amri. “That’s very important – we always find them there for us when any issues happen. You don’t have to think twice when choosing such a reliable supplier.” 

Bichara Al Khawam, on behalf of Bühler, added: “We approached this project with great dedication and expertise. I’d like to emphasize how proud we at Bühler are to contribute to such an important project, ultimately making a significant impact on enhancing global food security.”