Renovation and extension of cleaning and milling capacity of an industrial flour mill.

MINOTERIES HOUCINE LAHBABI is an industrial unit created in 1981, mainly involved in the processing of wheat cereals into flour and semolina. As part of the agri-food value chain, the factory includes a large fleet of machines that can produce different types of flour.

To meet the growing demand for flour and improve its competitiveness, MINOTERIES HOUCINE LAHBABI requested financing and technical assistance from the Green Value Chain (GVC) programme for the acquisition of a new equipment’s to improve the grinding efficiency. The new equipment’s are designed to replace the old ones which have been installed since 1981.

The renovation project of both workshops involves several equipment, including eight new four-rolling grinders with high-efficiency electric motors to replace the old grinders whose drive motors have been rewound several times and four bran centrifuges to remove any flour particles still adhering to the bran and increase flour yield.

This investment enabled the company to further improve its competitiveness and penetrate new markets while minimizing its energy consumption by 841 MWh per year and greenhouse gas emissions by 534 TCO2 per year compared to the baseline. The new equipment’s increased grinding capacity from 90 to 150 T/day and allowed the sub-borrower to save 528,000 MAD per year.

Green Value Chain (GVC) in Morocco is a credit facility of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide funding to local partner financial institutions for on-lending to Moroccan SMEs belonging to agribusiness, processing industries and logistics value chains and ecosystems. Supported by the European Union, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Korean Technical Assistance and Cooperation Account (KTACA) and the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund (EBRD SSF), the facility aims to improve competitiveness of SMEs and that of their value chains and ecosystems through highly efficient green investments.