May 2006
The Moroccan private holding company Ynna will build a sugar refinery in Tangier despite the withdrawal of the Saudi Savola Group from the deal. Savola is already present in Morocco with investments in the cooking oil business. For now the Miloud Chaabi-owned Ynna Holding will go on with its investment, although it has stated that it still remained open to partnership.
The Moroccan private holding company Ynna will build a sugar refinery in Tangier despite the withdrawal of the Saudi Savola Group from the deal. Savola is already present in Morocco with investments in the cooking oil business. For now the Miloud Chaabi-owned Ynna Holding will go on with its investment, although it has stated that it still remained open to partnership.
The refinery will cost at least MAD 1 billion, all of which will come from Ynna's own funds. Although the stated goal for the establishment of the refinery is officially to supply sugar to neighboring markets, it is no secret that Miloud Chaabi disliked the way state-own sugar companies were privatized in 2005 to the benefit of his competitor, the ONA Group, Morocco's largest private business group. Some say his investment in the sugar refining business is being driven by his own feelings and dislike of the privatization program.
The planned Tangier refinery will have a processing capacity of 600,000 tons per year, expendable to 1 million tons. The MAD 1 billion investment will include the acquisition of 100,000 square meters of land, the machinery and the construction of the required buildings. Given the international environment characterized by Brazil's increasing use of its sugar cane for energy production, the revision of the European sugar code and the coming end of production subsidies there, Ynna executives believe their investment will ultimately pay off as worldwide demand for sugar grows. The refined sugar in the Tangier plant will be exported in its entirety.
© The North Africa Journal 2006
