Dina Farms, Egypt’s largest dairy producer and a key supplier of fresh produce to both local and regional markets, said it has completed the expansion of its dairy production facilities.

Dina is a portfolio company of Gozour, the multi-category agriculture and consumer foods platform of top regional investment company Citadel Capital.

With focus on energy, transportation, agrifoods, mining and cement, Citadel controls investments worth $9.5 billion in the Middle East and Africa region.
 
Announcing the expansion, Dina Farms said it had taken receipt of the second and final herd of 1,000 high-quality pregnant heifers from the US thus completing the 2,400-head expansion of its herd of milking cows.

Dina Farms has now added a total of 2,400 milking cows to its herd since November 2012, bringing the total herd size to 15,000 animals, including 9,000 milking cows.

“This concludes the second and final phase of our comprehensive dairy expansion plan, in the course of which we have also built additional international-standard milking stations to accommodate the new animals,” said Dr Mohamed Waeer, the managing director of Gozour’s livestock business within Dina Farms.

The expansion program was backed by an EGP92 million ($12.9 million) syndicated loan to finance the purchase of 2,400 cows, complete civil works and procure and install machinery.

"With this move, Dina aims to expand its milk production to 80,000 tons per annum in 2014 from the 60,000 tons per annum that the farm produces today," stated Dr Waeer.

In addition to its premium brand of fresh milk products (marketed by sister company International Company for Dairy Products, ICDP) the company also provides milk to leading local producers of processed dairy products.

Gozour includes three primary lines of business: agriculture, dairy and dry consumer foods. Besides Dina Farms, its portfolio companies include Rashidi El-Mizan and Enjoy in Egypt as well as confectioner Al-Musharraf in Sudan.-TradeArabia News Service