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Al Dahra to up its Egypt operations: Al Dahra Egypt — a subsidiary of Emirati agribusiness Al Dahra — is planning on investing some USD 200 mn to add between 80k-90k feddans to its land portfolio over the next five years, Al Dahra Egypt CEO Raouf Tawfik told EnterpriseAM on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday to showcase the company’s future plans. The company is also looking to invest an additional USD 30 mn on additional equipment, as well as to help its efforts in reclaiming 2k feddans from the land it currently owns, Tawfik added.
This is less than what we last heard Al Dahra was going after: Al Dahra had been conductingnegotiations to purchase up to 500k feddans of agricultural land in Egypt, according to unconfirmed reports last year. The company — which is half-owned by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ — was reportedly eyeing land under a direct purchase or a long-term lease agreement in Toshka to grow wheat and corn.
The company's strategy is built on three main pillars — producing strategic crops, supporting exports, and adopting sustainable agricultural practices to maximize land productivity, Tawfik concluded.
Al Dahra is no stranger to Egypt: The firm currently owns 67k feddans of land in Toshka, East Owaynat, and El Salheya, and is the biggest private-sector wheat producer in Egypt. It has so far reclaimed some 40k feddans of the land it owns, and has invested around USD 250 mn to reclaim and cultivate this land for producing strategic crops that include wheat, corn, and sugar beets, according to a press release (pdf).
The firm is also the largest local supplier of wheat, having sold around 450k tons of wheat to the government over the past five years, making it GASC’s largest local private-sector supplier. The firm has also produced around 210k tons of corn and 90k tons of sugar beets over the past five years and currently ranks among the top ten private citrus producers in the Egyptian market. The company claims that it has helped cut the country’s import bill by USD 250 mn since Al Dahra set up its arm in Egypt.
