Some USD 47 mn-worth of new projects in Egypt’s Sokhna Industrial Zone kicked off operations yesterday in the presence of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly.

#1- Turkish building materials manufacturer Ado Group inaugurated its USD 15mn PVC window and door manufacturing factory. Trial operations kicked off in August. Output will serve both local and regional markets.

The details: The 55.1k sqm factory has an annual production capacity of 15k tons of PVC windows — door production will launch in January with an annual capacity of 75k doors. The first phase of production will create around 100 direct jobs. Local components will make up 90% of the input.

It might be the first time we hear Ado’s name in the local market, but we don’t think it will be the last, with company CEO Emre Aksoy describing the plant as “the first step in the group’s long-term investment plan in Egypt.”

READ MORE- We dive deeper into the influx of Turkish investments coming our way in an Inside Industry published earlier this year. Check it out here.

#2- Homegrown Punalu for Plastic and Wood Industries inaugurated its USD 12 mnfactory for the production of artificial marble, eco-friendly wood-plastic composite panels, and UPVC doors and windows. The 20k sqm facility has a production capacity of 14 tons per day, capacity will expand to 56 tons per day once all production lines are fully operational. The project will create over 100 jobs in its first phase.

We knew this was coming: General manager and co-founder Zaher Gamal over the summer told EnterpriseAM that the company is investing USD 10 mn to set up its factory. At the time, he told us that the company aims to scale up its production capacity to 90 tons per day by adding new product lines and around 20 production lines by the end of 2026, bringing total investments to USD 200 mn amid rising local and regional demand.

#3- Local manufacturer Prime Verde for Bags and Paper Industries has opened the doors to its USD 7.5 mn paper sacks production factory. The 10.5k sqm facility’s output will be used in packaging cement and other building materials locally. It has a production capacity of 140 mn bags a year and will create 120 jobs once fully operational later this month. It kicked off trial operations in May.

#4- A Chinese metalworks manufacturer inaugurated its USD 4.5 mn steel pipes andmetal furniture production factory. The 25k sqm facility has an annual output of 100k tons of stainless steel pipes, 4.8k tons of stainless steel sheets, and 2.4k tons of metal furniture.

#5- Kemet Industries launched a USD 4 mn ethanol plant, which produces high-purity ethanol using locally-sourced sugarcane and beet molasses. The 1.6k sqm facility has an annual capacity of 2 mn liters and targets unmet local demand for pharma- and lab-grade ethanol.

#6- Sinai Medical Supply opened a USD 4 mn nitrile glove factory with an annual production capacity of 60 mn gloves. The 1.2k sqm facility employs 100 workers and aims to localize medical glove manufacturing, reduce imports, and boost exports.

It wasn’t just new factories opening their doors and kicking off production; yesterday also saw Egypt Anode’s Ain Sokhna plant resume production after a two-year hiatus. The Egyptian Anode Blocks Company (Egypt Anode), a subsidiary of state-owned Metallurgical Industries Holding, has reopened its Ain Sokhna plant as it undergoes a five-year USD 20 mn rehabilitation under an agreement with global oil and gas giant BP.

The plant had halted operations in July 2023 due to technical issues. The factory restarted production with a single production line — with a capacity of 150k tons — the second line will be ready early next year and will double production.

The move is part of a government initiative to revive and restructure idle factories. A government source told us in December that the government is mulling reopening 12k stalled factories, approving immediate reopenings, and waiving accumulated penalties for previously operational facilities, as part of an initiative to streamline administrative hurdles in the industry and support the sector.

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