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Algeria: Who Are These Agricultural Export Champions?

Far from being a simple exercise in style, the highlighting of Algerian exporting companies during the first edition of the “Export Honor Medal”, Tuesday, July 12, is indicative of Algeria’s desire to reduce its dependence on hydrocarbons.

Among the exporters rewarded are several operators in the agricultural sector or in connection with it. The opportunity to get to know these Algerian champions of agricultural export.

Before being officially rewarded, the companies in question were able to present their products at stands set up at the International Conference Center in Algiers. Stands near which the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune lingered for a long time to discuss with the participants.

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Export-winning carob

The Boublenza family business was created nearly 30 years ago in Tlemcen with the idea of โ€‹โ€‹promoting carob powder.

The term family is not an empty word among the Boublenza. Around the patriarch, his children actively participate in the development of the company.

It was the founder himself who had the opportunity to present and praise a product entirely of local origin.

When asked by the Head of State whether the raw material was available, the entrepreneur was animated: โ€œ No, that’s the whole question. Thank you for this question, because we have decided in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to plant by 2030-35 ten million carob trees.

To which the Head of State reassured the entrepreneur that he could count on the public authorities: ” I would be your defender because all the reforestation that we are going to carry out within the framework of the green dam and for the reforestation of forests burned will include carob plants. We support especially when it is a purely Algerian productโ€.

The carob powder produced by Boublenza is used as a thickener in the food industry.

Although its name under the reference E410 is reminiscent of synthetic products, it is a natural product in high demand abroad.

In France, the Biocoop distribution chain sells 100 g at โ‚ฌ4.79. The Tlemcen company exports it to 25 countries for a value of 47.6 million dollars per year.

As such, the family business received the prize for the best exporter of agricultural products. An award already received in 2018. This company is now turning to local demand, which is growing rapidly. Biscuit factories, chocolate factories, dairy factories and the manufacture of industrial ice cream are fond of carob.

Although still underestimated in Algeria, carob powder turns out to be a strategic product.

In association with plant-based milks, it can contribute to the partial or total replacement of the milk powder used in yogurts and dessert creams. Through its Caruma brand, the company also offers it as an alternative to cocoa powder.

Biodates, exports of 5 million dollars

In 2003, after a university degree obtained in Oran and then further training abroad, Fayรงal Khebizat returned to Algeria with one idea in mind: to ride the wave of organic dates observed abroad. He creates his business.

The name is all found, it will be Biodattes. What to do when you don’t have a palm grove? Never mind, he surrounds himself with a network of producers to whom he offers specifications.

At the time, as there was no local certifier, he called on a foreign office.

Quickly, the first orders are pouring in. Today, the company enjoys numerous global certifications according to American, European and even Japanese standards. Its exports approach 5 million dollars to 16 different countries. As such, Biodattes has been designated as the best Algerian date exporter.

The company has 600 employees on 3 sites and is now diversifying its production towards date powder and ingredients for industry, such as activated carbon made from pits.

โ€œ All the products are processed, there is no loss,โ€ the young entrepreneur told the head of state.

Adding that the company had an extension project in order to get closer to its producers. Taking advantage of the platform offered to him, he did not fail to insist on the fact that he was awaiting authorization from the agricultural services.

Kiared olive oil quality and quantity

Kiared oils from Baghlia (Boumerdes) have won the challenge of quality and quantity.

Not only has this family business received several medals for the quality of its products, but it has also been awarded the prize for the best Algerian olive oil exporter. A guarantee of its ability to mobilize large volumes of oil.

Nothing destined Hamid Kiared for the profession of oleifactor. The family turned to building materials in 1997 and then invested in a modern oil mill.

โ€œ I had to choose between concrete and olive oil,โ€ he likes to say. He will choose olive oil.

Long alone on the local market, the mill has had to take into account the gradual the arrival of competitors who have benefited from state aid.

Its strategy is then to opt for a move upmarket. To do this, the young entrepreneur does not hesitate to seek ideas from producers on the northern shore of the Mediterranean.

The Kiared mill thus decides to shorten as much as possible the time between harvesting the olives and crushing.

And to ensure the quantity, he does not hesitate to widen the radius of action of the collection of olives.

No more simple local departments, he explores the new territories of the olive tree that have become the regions of Djelfa, Aรฏn Oussera, or Tiaret by carrying out a rigorous selection of his suppliers. Today, crates of olives arrive at his mill in truckloads.

At the same time, he prospected foreign markets by participating in international fairs. As he confided to Jeune Afrique, in 2018 during a fair in Barcelona, โ€‹โ€‹a visitor stopped in front of his stand and asked to taste a sample of oil.

He doesn’t know it, but it’s the manager of the World’s Best Olive Oils. The visitor tastes the oil and enthusiastically says: โ€œ Your oil is excellent! You should register for our contest. There are all the countries except Algeria. From the first participation, the medals flowed. Export will follow today with exports of around 200,000 dollars.

Pulp and phosphate fertilizers

Indirectly linked to agricultural activity, two companies received the prize for best exporter of industrial products.

Faderco was recognized for exporting $63 million worth of sanitary products and cellulose wadding to 23 countries.

Created in 1986 in Sรฉtif, the company belongs to the Habes family. It is currently led by Amor Habes.

As soon as he finished his studies in architecture in France, on his return to Algeria, he created a business importing hygiene products.

As he confided in Algeria-Eco in 2016: ” I acquired a first and solid experience in national and international trade “.

It was then that he decided to continue on this path and put his experience ” to the service of our family production company ” which he joined in 1999. He first occupied the position of commercial director then, in 2009, that of general manager.

With its subsidiary Warak, Faderco today produces some of the paper it uses. According to its promoters, with 70 million dollars, it is a substantial investment that allows the production of 30,000 tons of cellulose wadding per year and ensures 750 direct and 2,500 indirect jobs.

The Head of State proposed to Amor Habes to use esparto as a source of paper pulp, recalling that between Sougueur and Aรฏn Deheb, there are vast esparto layers.

What he inquired about local water availability because: “I t need a lot of water “, he added as an informed industrialist.

President Tebboune mentioned the possibility of drilling adding that โ€œ this will provide employment โ€.

In the Algerian steppe zone, the lack of employment is an endemic evil. Most often, the only activity then remains sheep farming. An activity which has reached its limit and exerts pressure on the pastures which are the source of an alarming process of desertification.

In terms of printing, the paper obtained from Esparto is of superior quality.

But it would still be necessary to produce the quantities of esparto necessary for industrial use by protecting the esparto layers from the voracious teeth of the sheep and mechanizing the harvest.

At the end of the interview, Amor Habes confides to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune that he has a message for him from the workers: โ€œMay the President come and visit the factory โ€.

With the export of more than 350 million dollars, the public company, Sociรฉtรฉ des Mines de Phosphates (Somiphos) of Tรฉbessa, produces various types of fertilizers from rock phosphate.

A product that has become strategic since it appears that the world phosphate peak is expected between 2030 and 2040.

Afterward, the reserves should irreparably decrease without the possibility of reconstitution on the scale of human life.

However, without phosphate fertilizer, there is no agriculture. Europe gets its supplies from North Africa, a region geologically rich in natural phosphate. An asset, for Algeria, but to be managed in a sustainable way.

Export, an alternative to hydrocarbons?

At the time of the heat wave, with electricity consumption reaching a peak of 18,377 megawatts on Tuesday, according to Sonelgaz, the use of natural gas is progressing ever more.

Last March, in the columns of El Watan, Professor Abderrahmane Mebtoul worried about ” strong domestic consumption almost equivalent to exports ” by 2025.

Many observers also argue that in 2030, between exporting or consuming natural gas, Algeria should choose.

One more reason to look for alternatives through exports.

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