Dina for Agricultural Investments (Dina Farms), Egypt’s largest dairy producer, said it has concluded a deal to import an additional 850 Holstein heifers from the US as part of its ongoing expansion plans.

Dina Farms, the aricultural arm of integrated regional multi-category consumer foods platform Gozour, said it plans to take receipt of the new cows by the middle of this year.

The total herd of milking cows at Dina Farms is expected to reach 10,000 by 2012, said Dina Farms managing director Mohamed Waeer.

The news comes as Dina Farms continues to expand and improve its existing facilities, which supply Egypt’s major dairy manufacturers with high quality milk.
 
The company also announced that it has signed a $2 million agreement to acquire a state-of-the-art equipment for its dairy facility.

The high-tech climate control system, which is the first of its kind in Egypt, will increase milk productivity by 10 per cent from late spring through early fall, when temperatures peak, said Waeer, who is also a leading regional dairy expert.

“We are targeting better overall efficiency by mitigating the effect of heat stress on the cows,” he explained.

He pointed out that the new investment in climate control would pay for itself in a period of less than two years.
 
With an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons of milk, Dina Farms is Egypt’s largest dairy producer. In early 2009, Dina Farms purchased 1,900 new pedigree Holstein heifers from North America.

Located on the outskirts of Cairo, Dina Farms, is the largest privately-owned farm in Egypt. It also produces a diverse range of fruit and vegetable products for sale locally and regionally.

The acquisition was part of an EGP 150 million dairy expansion plan that has seen Dina Farms’ herd of top-quality, internationally certified milking cows grow to 6,000 from the 4,000 animals that were in place at the end of 2008.
 
"We are not only expanding production at Dina Farms by acquiring more cows and building more dairy stations, we are also interested in running the most efficient operation possible," said Gozour Agri’s chief executive officer and managing director Ahmed Seddik.

"The investment in the new state-of-the-art equipment will allow us to make better use of the capacity we already have in place," he added.

Commenting on the dairy operation’s growth potential, Seddik added, “All these initiatives are in line with Dina Farms’ strategy of not only getting bigger, but also getting better.”
 
Gozour was established by Citadel Capital, a leading private equity firm and a consortium of leading regional co-investors as a holding company for an integrated regional multi-category consumer foods platform.

The group includes three primary lines of business: agri-foods and dairy (Gozour Agro), fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG, Gozour Foods) and intermediate goods such as corn, sugar, flour, maize and skimmed milk powder (Gozour Intermediate).

Besides Dina Farms, the Gozour companies include El Aguizy, Rashidi El-Mizan, Enjoy, El-Misriyyeen, Mom’s Food and a stake in the National Company for Maize Products.-TradeArabia News Service