According to exclusive information from Doha News, the Qatari food mega group, Baladna (بلدنا), is preparing to sign, in the coming weeks, an agreement with the government to build a milk powder production farm in Algeria.
According to our source, the Qatari company plans to establish a giant farm that will cover an area of 100,000 hectares and whose production capacity will amount to 200,000 tonnes of milk powder per year. However, details on the investment amount and the location of the project were not revealed.
That said, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced, during his meeting with the media on March 30, that Algeria was about to sign an agreement with an “Arab partner” to start producing milk powder. locally, in the wilaya of Adrar (southwest of Algeria).
Furthermore, the Baladna Group is the largest company in Qatar in the production of milk and dairy products. Listed on the stock exchange since 2019, Baladna has developed its brand globally. She owns a gigantic cattle farm that spans an area of 2.6 million square meters.
#Qatari food company Baldana is in the process of signing an agreement with the #Algerian government to establish a farm to produce powdered milk in the North African country.
Milk powder: a hefty import bill for Algeria
You should know that at present, Algeria imports almost all of its powdered milk needs. This state of affairs places this commodity in second position, behind cereals in food expenditure.
For example, the import bill for milk powder for the year 2021 had reached, according to figures from ONIL (National Interprofessional Milk Office), the staggering sum of 600 million dollars.
Thus, knowing that our annual consumption of milk powder is around 400,000 tonnes, Baladna Qatar’s investment – which plans to produce 200,000 tonnes per year – will make it possible to halve the import bill for this commodity.
Finally, let us remember that the Qatari giant’s interest in Algeria is not new. In 2022, Baladna sent a delegation of experts to the wilaya of El-Baydh (western Algeria) to study the possibility of establishing a dairy farm there.
