PepsiCo opens a new US$238M snack plant in Poland

POLAND – American food and drink giant PepsiCo, has opened a new 1-billion-zloty (US$238M) snack plant in the southwestern Polish village of Święte, which will produce Lay’s and Doritos among other brands.

The facility is the firm’s fifth plant in Poland and its biggest investment so far in the country. It is also the company’s first facility in the European Union designed to measure CO2 emissions.

The 54,700m facility includes a 23,000m production hall, a purification plant, warehouses, and offices and will dramatically increase the scale of production.

Snacks from the facility will be distributed to 20 European markets, Including Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Built with sustainability at its core, the plant demonstrates how circular economy principles can be used throughout the entire lifecycle of a snack, to achieve a net zero status by 2035.

Silviu Popovici, CEO of PepsiCo Europe, revealed that the company is now looking to expand its network of farmers to supply potatoes and maize for the snacks adding that, by 2025, the new plant will buy 60,000 tonnes of potatoes per year and, by 2027, 30,000 tonnes of maize.

Ukraine to build grain terminal in Nigeria

NIGERIA — The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the Lagos Free Zone Company, a venture of Singapore’s Tolaram Group, have signed a memorandum of understanding for Ukraine to participate in the grain terminal project at Nigeria’s Lekki Deep Sea Port.

The Lekki Deep Sea Port, which is operational but still partly under construction, is Nigeria’s first fully automated port. The $1.5 billion port is a joint project of the Nigerian government, Lagos State government, Lagos Free Zone and the China Harbour Engineering Co. (CNEC).

The memorandum was signed by Taras Vysotskyi, first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference that was convened June 2122 in London, England.

“The cooperation between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Lagos Free Zone Company will be aimed at creating the necessary infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted supply of Ukrainian agricultural products to both Nigeria and the entire African continent,” Vysotskyi said.

Egypt secures US$66M from EU, AFD to boost grain storage capacity

EGYPT – Egypt has received 60 million euros (US$66 million) from the European Union and French Development Agency to help in expanding its silo grain storage capacity by 420,000 tonnes.

The funding comes after the Egyptian government reported that it has increased its wheat storage capacity to 3.6 million tons (MT) in 2023, compared to 1.2 MT in 2014, a 200% jump.

The funding, envisions to add 12% of the current 3.6 MT capacity and is part of a previously announced 225-millioneuro ($240.71 million) food security support package to Middle Eastern and North African nations impacted by the war in Ukraine, of which Egypt stood to receive 100 million euro ($108 million).

Egypt, perennially the world’s largest wheat importer, has been working to increase its wheat reserves after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine adversely affected Egypt since 80% of the country’s imports came from the two nations.

As a result, the government came up with measures to raise local production in line with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s interest in expanding the cultivation of strategic crops, particularly wheat.

In March, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the EU signed an agreement for 40 million euros ($43.16 million) to be spent on projects to produce grains and seeds, set up silos, and control wheat transport within Egypt.