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YEAR 4 | ISSUE NO. 20 | AUG - OCT 2026

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BAKING FORMULATION GLP-1 in Baking

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OLAM AGRI Building Africa's Food Manufacturing Backbone

Saurabh Mehra, Segment Head, Food & Feed Processing & Value-Added, Olam Agri AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

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CONTENTS

36 SCAN ME

COMPANY FEATURE - OLAM AGRI How Olam Agri Is Building Africa's Food Manufacturing Backbone

YEAR 4 | ISSUE NO. 20 | AUG - OCT 2026

BAKING FORMULATION GLP-1 IN BAKING From Bigger Portions to More Nutrition per Bite

REGION FOCUS - BLACK SEA WHEAT IN MEA Middle East & Africa Reckon with the true cost of Black Sea Wheat

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AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

CONTENTS YEAR 4 | ISSUE NO. 20 | AUG - OCT 2026

8 12 20 48

Editorial

News Update Suppliers News Baking & Snack News TECH FOCUS - AI IN MILLING What AI Misses on the Mill Floor & How to Catch It

QUALITY & SAFETY - FDK & DON IN WHEAT How Quality Teams Can Use Both

TOP 10 - TOP 10 SOYBEAN PRODUCERS IN AFRICA 2026/2027

COMMODITY UPDATE - SOYBEAN IN AFRICA Closing the Gap Between Farm and Feed Mill

BAKING TECH - BAKING EQUIPMENT

Why the Right Equipment Determines Efficiency in East Africa's Bakery & Milling Industry

38 4

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EDITORIAL

Now You Can Watch and Listen Too!

e have an exciting development to share from our publisher, FW Brands MEA. FW Business TV, our new broadcast and digital media arm, now lets you watch the executive interviews, industry features and event coverage you know from these pages, in video, alongside documentaries and thought-leadership series built to inform, connect and inspire Africa and the Middle East's business and industrial communities. Alongside it, we’ve launched our AFMASS Masterclasses, a specialist series connecting industry professionals with the technologies and solutions shaping their sectors. For readers of this magazine, look out for the Grains & FeedTech MEA MasterClass, connecting sector professionals directly to the technologies driving modern milling, bakery, and feed processing. Why now? We acted on clear feedback from readers who asked to see ‘the plant’ instead of just reading a description of it. You wanted to hear the full CEO interview alongside our account of the conversation. Video helps us serve this segment of our audience while bringing you closer to the people, facilities, and technologies shaping the industries we cover. These new platforms complement what we do in print, giving you more ways to engage with our coverage. Whether you prefer to read during your morning routine, listen on a commute, or watch an in-depth interview at your desk, the

AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

content is built to fit how you consume media today. This issue remains dedicated to the deep analysis and reporting you rely on. Our cover story follows Olam Agri's expansion across Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, pasta capacity, soybean crushing, a doubled wheat milling footprint, and what it says about processing moving closer to home. Our Regional Focus looks at what the Black Sea situation is actually costing Middle East and Africa buyers. There's a Food Safety feature on FDK and DON in wheat that's genuinely useful if you're on a milling floor. We've ranked Africa's top ten soybean producers as part of a wider look at the commodity. The AI Yield Exception Ledger asks a good question: what happens when a mill stops accepting yield loss as just the cost of doing business. Juma Abdallah writes on milling and baking equipment, and we've got a piece on how GLP-1 drug use is starting to reshape demand for baked goods, which is more interesting than it sounds. Take a look, and when you get a moment, tune into FW Business TV or join a MasterClass session. We’d love your feedback! Fridah Chepkoech Editorial Lead

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EVENTS CALENDAR IBATECH Oct 14 - 17, 2026 Turkey www.ibaktech.com/en/startseite/

IAOM MEA Nov 23 - 26, 2026 Cape Town, South Africa www.iaom.org/event/36th-annual-iaommea-conference-expo-2026/

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Africa Food Safety Summit July 14 - 16 2027 Kampala, Uganda www.africafoodsafetysummit.com/

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AFMASS Milling & BakeTech Expo Oct 6 - 8, 2027 Lusaka Zambia www.africamillingexpo.com/south/

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AVAILABLE IN PRINT & FOR FREE ONLINE AT: WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

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CONSTITUENT EVENTS

NEWS UPDATES BY WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

Kazakhstan eyes Malawi as first wheat market in SubSaharan Africa

NEW INNOVATIONS

BoMill launches BoMill InSight™ HiFlex for large-scale grain handling SWEDEN - BoMill AB has officially announced the commercial launch of BoMill InSight™ HiFlex, a new scalable grain-sorting solution designed to extend the company’s precision sorting technology into large-scale grain terminals and high-volume grain handling operations. Built on BoMill’s patented Near Infrared Transmittance (NIT) technology, the new HiFlex system performs precision, individual-kernel sorting by protein content at an industrial scale, allowing largescale operators to maximize crop value and optimize supply chain efficiency. The initial turnkey configuration of the BoMill InSight™ HiFlex is housed within a mobile 40-foot container structure capable of processing an impressive 200 metric tons of grain per hour. This high-capacity deployment offers flexible, plug-and-play integration for grain terminals, ports, and bulk handling facilities, enabling easy relocation between operational sites. Furthermore, the modular design allows the platform to scale to even higher throughput volumes or be permanently integrated into existing industrial grain processing lines, depending on specific customer requirements.

By sorting individual grain kernels according to their internal quality profile, the HiFlex platform solves a critical economic challenge for grain suppliers and buyers. One key application is separating grain by protein content before it is sold or processed. BoMill said grain suppliers can use the technology to optimize batches to specific protein requirements, potentially reducing excess protein that adds no value while lowering the risk of grain falling below contractual specifications. For exporters and traders, the highspeed system separates grain batches into precise protein tiers before sale, eliminating the risk of uncompensated excess protein or price penalties caused by sub-specification shipments. For commercial flour millers and maltsters, consistent sorting ensures optimized raw material utilization, lower blending costs, and reliable product consistency. For commercial flour millers and maltsters, consistent sorting ensures optimized raw material utilization, lower blending costs, and reliable product consistency. The technology could therefore provide an additional tool for managing grain quality amid variations in crop characteristics, market requirements, and customer specifications.

12 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

MALAWI – Kazakhstan is looking to expand its wheat exports into Sub-Saharan Africa through Malawi, potentially opening the country’s first wheat market in the region as Astana seeks to diversify its growing grain export destinations. The opportunity was discussed during recent talks between Kazakhstan and Malawi on agricultural cooperation and food security, with potential supplies of Kazakh wheat to Malawi identified as an area of interest. The discussions come shortly after Kazakhstan and Malawi formally established diplomatic relations. The two countries signed a joint communiqué on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 25 September 2026. Agriculture and food security were among the sectors identified for closer cooperation, alongside mining, digitalization and education. For Kazakhstan, a deal with Malawi would mark a significant geographical expansion of its wheat trade in Africa. Kazakh wheat exports to the continent have historically been concentrated in North Africa

Ethiopia targets sorghum commercialization to boost regional trade ETHIOPIA – The Ethiopian government is launching a comprehensive initiative to transform sorghum from a subsistence staple into a high-value commercial driver of regional trade, job creation, and industrial investment. Unveiled during the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026 in Kigali under the National Sorghum Flagship Programme, the strategy seeks to capitalize on the crop’s natural climate resilience to build a modern, end-to-end agricultural value chain. By expanding sorghum beyond local consumption, authorities aim to meet growing domestic and regional demand for livestock feed, beverage production, food processing, and specialized consumer products. To support the commercial expansion, government representatives outlined several structural reforms to attract private capital and commercial growers. Key policy measures include modernized seed commercialization framework laws, new legal protections for contract farming, specialized tax incentives, and dedicated space within state-backed integrated agro-industrial parks. Furthermore, the expansion will mitigate post-harvest losses, and create employment opportunities across rural and urban economies. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

INVESTMENTS

UAE, Egypt activate five-year wheat supply agreement to secure grain buffer EGYPT – Al Dahra Agriculture Trading (ADAT) and Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) have signed a five-year wheat supply agreement worth US$500 million, moving a partnership first established in 2023 from framework into active operation. The landmark deal transitions a broader strategic framework established between the two nations into an active operational arrangement aimed at boosting food security in one of the world’s largest wheatimporting markets. Under the terms of the agreement, the Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX) will provide the necessary financing structure, allocating approximately US$100 million annually to GASC over five years to procure high-quality imported milling wheat directly from Al Dahra. ADAT is part of Al Dahra Holding, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and a global agribusiness focused on sustainable food and feed production. The signing ceremony took place at the Cabinet of Ministers Headquarters in El Alamein and was attended by key leaders, including Dr Sherif Mohamed

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Farouk, Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, and Khadim Abdullah Al Darei, CoFounder and Managing Director of Al Dahra. The initiative is designed to establish a dependable long-term procurement buffer for Egypt, reducing the nation’s reliance on volatile short-term spot market transactions. Securing stable grain streams remains a top national priority for Cairo, as imported wheat forms the backbone of the state’s massive subsidized bread program. The competitive financing package provided by ADEX allows GASC to lock in essential agricultural imports while maintaining manageable payment terms amid global supply chain shifts. By supporting the reliable, sustainable supply of wheat from Al Dahra to Egypt, ADEX is helping strengthen trade between the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, while supporting UAE exports and expanding its presence in global markets. Egypt, with a population of about 120 million, is perennially the world’s largest importer of wheat. Total consumption of wheat in 202627 is expected to reach 20.3 million tonnes.

Benin accelerates soybean transformation with US$50M investment BENIN – Benin is accelerating its agricultural transformation following a strategic US$50 million investment to expand local soybean processing and industrial crushing capacity. Supported through public-private partnerships, multilateral development facilities, and regional financial institutions, including funding channeled through the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ), the multi-milliondollar capital injection marks a major turning point in the nation’s strategy to move away from raw commodity exports toward high-value agro-industrial processing. The investment funds the construction and operational expansion of modern industrial crushing facilities and oil refineries, including major units built by industrial partners such as EHUA Industries. The complex includes a soybean crushing unit with a capacity of 300 tons per day, as well as a complete feed unit for livestock and poultry, capable of producing up to 180,000 tons per year with an annual processing goal scaling beyond 100,000 metric tonnes of raw soybeans.

Solar Industries to acquire South Africa’s Omnia for US$1.36B SOUTH AFRICA – India-based Solar Industries has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of South African fertilizer, chemical, and mining solutions company Omnia Holdings in an all-cash deal valued at R21.8 billion (US$1.36 billion). The landmark transaction, executed through Solar’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Solar SA Investments, marks one of the largest cross-border acquisitions by an Indian industrial firm in Africa. Under the terms of the deal, Solar offered R134.50 (US$ 8.24) per share, a significant premium over Omnia’s recent trading levels on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The strategic buyout significantly expands Solar Industries’ international footprint across Africa, combining its global scale in commercial explosives with Omnia’s extensive distribution network, agricultural solutions, and specialized mining subsidiary, BME. Omnia produces specialized fertilizers, biological crophealth inputs, industrial chemicals, and commercial blasting solutions, generating over US$1.4 billion in annual revenue.

AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 13

NEWS UPDATES

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Novonesis completes acquisition of MicroBioGen

DENMARK – Novonesis has completed the acquisition of Australian biotechnology company MicroBioGen, strengthening its expertise in yeast breeding and industrial fermentation as the biosolutions company seeks to expand its technology platform across bioethanol and other industries. The transaction closed on October 1, 2026, after Novonesis obtained all required regulatory approvals. The acquisition builds on Novonesis’ 2013 investment in MicroBioGen and its 23% ownership stake before the deal. The completion gives Novonesis full ownership of the Australian biotechnology business after acquiring the remaining 77% stake. MicroBioGen specializes in developing yeast strains for industrial applications and has built a strong track record in bioethanol. The company developed its yeast-breeding platform and library of elite yeast genetics over more than two decades, enabling it to improve yeast performance for industrial processes. Novonesis said these capabilities complement its own expertise in microbiology and industrial fermentation. The acquisition gives Novonesis a technology platform that has already demonstrated

commercial value through its bioethanol collaboration. The companies have worked together for more than a decade, including developing the Innova® yeast series, designed to deliver improved industrial performance. The combined capabilities are expected to support further development of biosolutions for customers seeking improved efficiency and performance from fermentation processes. Beyond bioethanol, Novonesis sees potential applications for MicroBioGen’s yeast technology across a wider range of industries. MicroBioGen has previously identified opportunities to optimize yeast in areas including baking, sustainable feed, energy, and food applications. By combining their technologies and expertise, Novonesis aims to strengthen its ability to develop biosolutions addressing customer needs across industries. Novonesis also confirmed that it will continue supporting MicroBioGen’s existing partners and maintain continuity across its collaborations. The deal comes as industries increasingly look to biological technologies to improve production efficiency, reduce resource use and develop more sustainable manufacturing systems.

14 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Algeria begins construction of 3m-ton fertilizer complex ALGERIA – Algeria has begun construction of a major phosphate processing and fertilizer production complex at Oued Kebrit in Souk Ahras, marking a key step in the country’s Integrated Phosphate Project. The government laid the first stone for the facility on September 24, 2026, as it moves to develop an integrated mining, chemical processing, and fertilizer production chain. The Oued Kebrit complex will form the industrial processing arm of the wider project, receiving enriched phosphate from the Bled El Hadba mining and beneficiation complex in Tébessa. According to Sonatrach, Phase One is designed to produce approximately 2.4 million tonnes per year of phosphate fertilizers and 570,000 tonnes per year of nitrogen fertilizers, mainly urea. Combined, the announced fertilizer capacity approaches 3 million tonnes annually. The facility will also manufacture key chemical intermediates required for fertilizer production, including sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid and ammonia.

Iraq inaugurates new seed processing lines to boost wheat production IRAQ – Two new high-capacity seed purification and processing lines have been officially inaugurated at the Ahlelah seed facility in Nineveh province, in a major effort to rebuild domestic grain infrastructure and strengthen national food security. The technological expansion raises the site’s total production output to 30 tonnes per hour, boosting the region’s capacity to deliver high-quality, pest-free grain seeds to local farmers. The World Bank’s emergency loan project team executed the project in close coordination with Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture. Each newly installed processing line adds 10 tonnes per hour of operating capacity, using modern mechanical sorting and treatment technologies to remove impurities, select prime seeds, and apply protective coatings. Alongside the processing equipment, the infrastructure initiative included constructing 11 new storage units on site, significantly increasing the wheat grain storage footprint operated by the state-owned Mesopotamia General Company for Seeds. The investment aims to strengthen the seed supply chain in one of Iraq’s key agricultural regions. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

INVESTMENT

Imas completes 720 tpd flour mill project in Central Africa

CAMEROON – Imas, a global leader in grain and feed milling technologies, has officially commissioned a mega greenfield flour mill with a processing capacity of 720 metric tons per day (TPD) in Central Africa. The turnkey installation marks the third complete milling project the Turkish equipment manufacturer has delivered to the same client in the region, bringing the customer’s total installed milling capacity supplied by Imas to 1,180 TPD. The expansion follows previous successful phases completed for the client, which began with an initial 300 TPD facility commissioned in 2021, followed by a 160 TPD installation in 2024. The newly operational facility represents a major expansion in Central Africa’s regional grain processing infrastructure, adding 238,000 tons of annual wheat grinding capacity to supply local commercial bakeries, food processors, and retail chains. Engineered as a single integrated processing unit, the milling section features 36 state-of-the-art roller mills, 6 eight-section plansifters, and 8 single-deck purifiers. Executed entirely on a turnkey basis, İmaş handled end-toend engineering, machinery WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

manufacturing, electrical engineering, mechanical installation, and commissioning. The Turkish manufacturer’s specialized industrial steel division also designed, fabricated, and erected the mill building’s structural framework. Advanced automation is central to the new milling complex. Managed through a centralized, fully integrated process control architecture, the system coordinates every operational stage from raw grain intake and cleaning to conditioning, milling, and final flour packaging. The control system provides real-time monitoring of key performance metrics, tracking exact production outputs, extraction yields, energy consumption, and equipment utilization. Additionally, the architecture allows İmaş technical support teams in Türkiye to connect remotely for realtime diagnostics, preventive maintenance check-ups, and operational assistance. The rapid scaling of domestic flour production across Central Africa reflects surging consumer demand for wheat-based products driven by population growth and urbanization. The project strengthens Imas’presence in Central Africa.

Visible Industries plans to invest in Kenya’s rice value chain ecosystem KENYA – Visible Industries Ltd (VIL) plans to launch its rice value-chain ecosystem in Mwea in the first quarter of 2027, targeting one of Kenya’s most important rice-producing regions. Kenya currently imports approximately 80% of its domestic milled rice requirement, totaling nearly one million metric tonnes annually. Despite agro-ecological potential to cultivate at least half of this import volume across regions such as Mwea, Nyanza, Tana River, Busia, and emerging Highland Rice zones, local smallholders operate at roughly 30% of their production capacity because of fragmented value chains and unstructured financing models. To address regional post-harvest bottlenecks, Visible Industries has partnered with Kanyoni Rice Millers to build a large end-to-end processing hub near Makutano in Embu County. The plant, nearing completion at Makutano in Embu County, will feature 100 tonnes per day milling capacity, 42,000 square metres of storage, automated paddy drying machinery and two acres of specialized drying floor.

Global rainfed agriculture fertilizers market set to reach US$85.3B by 2033 GLOBAL – The global rainfed agriculture fertilizers market is projected to expand from approximately US$51.2 billion in 2024 to US$85.3 billion by 2033, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%, according to Research Intelo. The growth is being linked to rising demand for improved crop productivity, sustainable nutrient management, and greater resilience in farming systems that depend primarily on rainfall. Rainfed agriculture remains a major component of global food production, particularly across developing regions where irrigation infrastructure is limited. Unlike irrigated farming, rainfed production depends largely on seasonal precipitation, leaving farmers exposed to irregular rainfall, drought and changing weather patterns. Under these conditions, effective fertilizer management can help crops use available soil moisture and nutrients more efficiently. The market encompasses a broad range of products, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers; compound and blended products; micronutrients; organic fertilizers; biofertilizers; and specialized formulations. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 15

NEWS UPDATES

NEWS UPDATES DIVESTMENTS

Corteva completes spin-off of seed business

USA – Corteva has completed the separation of its seed business and begun a new chapter as a focused, innovation-led global crop protection company, positioning the business to accelerate research, commercialization and delivery of technologies aimed at protecting crop yields. The company announced the completion of the spin-off on October 1, 2026, creating a pure-play crop protection business with a renewed focus on innovation, operational efficiency and customer needs. The separation follows Corteva’s 2025 decision to divide its Seed and Crop Protection businesses into Corteva and Vylor as independent public companies. On September 21, 2026, Vylor and Belgian agtech company Rainbow Crops announced a collaboration to accelerate the development of novel gene-edited corn traits. The company said the move reflects the increasingly different market opportunities and strategic requirements facing the two businesses, allowing each organization to concentrate investment and resources on its respective growth priorities. Corteva begins its new phase with a pipeline containing

12 new active ingredients expected to reach the market over the next decade, including five biological products. The company said this pipeline, combined with its established crop protection portfolio, provides a platform for future growth as farmers face increasing pressure from emerging pests and diseases, weed resistance and the need to improve productivity while using resources more efficiently. The company is placing particular emphasis on technologies derived from or inspired by nature. Its innovation strategy covers four major areas: disease control, insect control, plant performance and weed control. Corteva estimates these areas represent substantial global market opportunities and plans to combine conventional chemistry with nature-derived and nature-inspired solutions to provide farmers with more targeted crop protection options. Corteva begins this next chapter with strong momentum and a proven record of execution excellence. The company aims to use this focused model to respond more rapidly to changing agricultural challenges and deliver safe, effective and sustainable crop protection solutions.

16 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Ethiopia secures US$2.3M Japan grant to mechanize rice sector ETHIOPIA – Ethiopia and Japan have signed a JPY360 million (US$2.3 million) grant agreement to accelerate mechanization and modernization of the country’s rice sector through the provision of agricultural machinery and equipment. The agreement will finance agricultural machinery and equipment intended to increase rice productivity, improve processing efficiency and reduce post-harvest losses. The grant will support the procurement of combine harvesters, tractors, ricemilling machines and land-preparation equipment. The equipment is expected to strengthen activities across the rice value chain, from field preparation and harvesting to processing, while helping farmers and processors improve operational efficiency. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the assistance is expected to boost rice productivity and improve food security in Ethiopia. The signing further strengthens cooperation between the two countries in agricultural development and food security. Ethiopia is seeking to expand domestic rice production as consumption has increased in recent years.

BOAD approves US$78M targeting 100,000 tons of extra rice production TOGO – The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has approved CFAF45 billion, (US$78 million), to finance the third phase of Togo’s Agricultural Mechanization and Irrigation Support Programme (ProMAI), with the investment targeting an additional 100,000 tonnes of rice production annually. BOAD approved the financing at its 152nd ordinary board meeting in Lomé on September 24, 2026. The latest financing will support the development of 530 hectares and the acquisition of irrigation equipment. According to BOAD, the investments are designed to increase agricultural productivity, particularly in rice production, while creating employment opportunities, including for young people and women. The new funding further expands BOAD’s support for ProMAI. The bank approved CFAF20 billion (US$34.29M) for the programme’s first phase in October 2025, followed by CFAF40 billion for the second phase in June 2026. With the latest CFAF45 billion (US$78 million) commitment, BOAD’s cumulative financing for the agricultural mechanization and irrigation programme reaches CFAF105 billion (US$180.03M). WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

NEW INNOVATIONS

Kernel deploys new modular grain storage solution UKRAINE – Kernel Holding SA, a leading Ukrainian grains producer and exporter, has deployed a new modular grain storage solution designed to rapidly expand storage capacity amid continuing disruptions to the country’s grain export and logistics infrastructure. Developed by a Ukrainian manufacturer at Kernel’s request, the system is intended to provide agricultural producers and grain operators with additional storage without the time and capital required to build permanent elevator facilities. Kernel said it assembled the first modular storage facility in just four days and then loaded it with 3,400 tonnes of grain within two days. The company said the modular system can accommodate around 3.5 times more grain than traditional polymer grain bags within a comparable footprint. The structures can also be installed on paved surfaces, dismantled, and relocated, giving operators flexibility as storage needs change. Kernel has purchased several units expected to add approximately 40,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity.

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The additional capacity will be used for Kernel’s own grain and to provide storage services to other agricultural producers, according to reports. The company has also said other market participants have begun ordering the technology after its pilot deployment. The initiative comes as Ukraine continues to face pressure on grain storage and export logistics. Attacks on agricultural and port infrastructure have disrupted supply chains, while prolonged periods between harvest and export have increased the amount of grain requiring temporary or alternative storage. Reuters reported in August that Ukrainian grain exports had fallen sharply amid disruptions to Black Sea routes, increasing pressure on farmers and storage infrastructure. Kernel operates one of Ukraine’s largest private inland silo networks. Its FY2024 annual report stated that the company operated 28 silos with a total grain storage capacity of about 2.2 million tonnes, providing grain intake, drying, cleaning and storage services to its farming operations and thirdparty producers.

Ghana invests US$60M in fertilizer projects to cut import dependence GHANA – Ghana is advancing fertilizer investments worth about US$60 million as the government seeks to increase domestic production of agricultural inputs, reduce import dependence and improve the availability of fertilizer to farmers. The developments include a planned US$50 million organic fertilizer blending facility in the Eastern Region and a proposed US$10 million organic fertilizer by Sentuo Group. The project is expected to have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons. The US$50 million organic fertilizer project is being developed by ABC Oyeasase Yie Ltd in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2026 for the establishment of the facility, which is expected to increase local production of organic fertilizer and support the government’s Feed Ghana Programme.

Cameroon completes 40,000-tonne grain silo complex at Douala port CAMEROON – The Port Authority of Douala (PAD) and agribusiness operator Afisa Food Industry SA have officially completed and commissioned a major grain storage complex featuring eight industrial silos at the Port of Douala-Bonabéri. With each unit designed to hold 5,000 metric tonnes, the new facility adds 40,000 tonnes of state-of-the-art cereal storage capacity to Cameroon’s primary maritime trade hub. The completion marks a pivotal milestone in the port’s longterm modernization master plan to upgrade national logistics, reduce vessel congestion, and boost regional food security. Developed through a public-private partnership with Afisa Food Industry, a subsidiary of the multinational Elnefeidi Group, the project directly addresses longstanding bottleneck issues in primary grain handling at the port. The complex integrates advanced, high-capacity Vigan pneumatic suction unloaders capable of discharging raw wheat directly from cargo vessels at rates up to 600 tonnes per hour. The new storage facility plays a crucial role in supporting Cameroon’s expanding grain processing ecosystem. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 17

NEWS UPDATES

NEWS UPDATES INVESTMENT

LDC inaugurates 40,000-mt grain storage facility in Pakistan

PAKISTAN – Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) has officially inaugurated a new grain storage facility in Multan, marking its first owned industrial site in Pakistan. The strategic asset adds approximately 40,000 metric tons of grain storage capacity in South Punjab, significantly boosting the company’s logistics and origination infrastructure within the South Asian nation. The facility reinforces LDC’s long-term commercial presence in Pakistan, where the group has operated since 2010 across cotton, oilseeds, pulses, rice, sugar, and grains, including a strong position in wheat. The company is recognized as one of Pakistan’s largest wheat traders and a leading importer and local supplier of milling wheat. Located in a primary agricultural belt, the Multan silo complex is designed to optimize domestic grain handling, streamline supply chains, reduce post-harvest losses, and improve market connection for local farming communities and commercial customers alike. According to corporate leadership, the investment aligns with LDC’s broader global

strategy to strengthen core merchandising capabilities and expand asset footprints in highgrowth destination markets. LDC executives noted that establishing physical storage infrastructure enhances operational efficiency, improves service delivery to regional feed and flour millers, and creates local direct and indirect employment opportunities. Rubens Marques, LDC’s Head of South & Southeast Asia, emphasized that Pakistan represents a critical destination market in the region, driven by expanding demographic needs and increasing demand for resilient food supply chains. With a population exceeding 250 million, Pakistan remains a key regional market for essential agricultural commodities, particularly wheat and oilseeds. Modern industrial grain facilities are vital for stabilizing food security, maintaining buffer inventories, and mitigating supply disruption risks caused by climate volatility or global market shifts. LDC’s new Multan asset positions the multinational trader to capture expanding domestic trade flows while supporting overall agricultural distribution across the country.

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Kenyan farmers embrace barley as wheat economics tighten KENYA – Kenyan farmers are increasingly turning to barley as an alternative to wheat, driven by high production costs, rigid pricing structures, and import competition in the wheat market, according to a report from the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). The report says barley is gaining appeal because it can be cultivated under similar soil and climatic conditions across key agricultural regions, including Narok, Nakuru and Meru. The shift comes as rising regional demand strengthens barley prices, creating new opportunities for Kenyan producers. Historically supported by domestic contract farming, the crop is becoming increasingly attractive as export markets offer competitive returns. However, stronger regional demand has also reduced supplies available to some domestic buyers, highlighting the growing competition for locally produced grain. Despite this growth, wheat remains the dominant grain crop, with the FAS forecasting 280,000 tonnes of production for the 2026/27 marketing year, but barley has become an attractive alternative.

Black Sea disruption pushes wheat buyers towards alternative origins EGYPT – Intensifying attacks on Black Sea infrastructure and commercial shipping are disrupting wheat supplies to major importing markets, forcing buyers in Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh to explore alternative origins as exporters become increasingly reluctant to ship through the region. The prolonged uncertainty is complicating procurement schedules, raising transportation risks, and putting pressure on international wheat trade flows. Tensions escalated on October 6 following an attack on two commercial vessels, including a wheat coaster, in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, according to local reports. The incident marked a significant escalation in maritime security concerns, extending the threat to commercial shipping operating in the Black Sea waters near a NATO member country. The disruption has affected both the availability and movement of grain. Russian wheat sellers have largely stayed on the sidelines as shipping routes become harder to access, with some exporters redirecting cargoes to Baltic ports. The shift is reshaping established trade patterns and intensifying competition for alternative shipping capacity. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

INVESTMENT

Sri Lanka’s first durum mill successfully commissioned with Bühler technology SRI LANKA – Sri Lanka has reached a new milestone in its grain-processing industry with the commissioning of what the project team describes as the country’s first durum mill. The facility, developed with Bühler as its technology partner, is now operating at full capacity and is reported to be delivering strong milling performance and product quality. According to the project team, the newly commissioned mill is running smoothly and has achieved an extraction rate above the originally expected level. The result highlights the importance of efficient process design and technology selection in durum milling, where achieving highquality semolina and flour while maximizing extraction is central to commercial performance. Bühler was selected as the technology partner for the project, bringing its expertise in grain-processing and milling systems to the facility. The Swiss engineering group has a longstanding presence in Sri Lanka’s milling sector. Its technology is already used at established flour-milling operations in the country, including Serendib Flour Mills,

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which operates a major facility at Colombo Port using Bühler equipment. The successful start-up also stemmed from close cooperation between the customer’s team and Bühler’s project team throughout the development and commissioning process. Such collaboration is particularly important during the transition from installation and testing to full commercial production, as mill performance depends on integrating equipment, process parameters, raw-material characteristics, and operator expertise. The commissioning adds a new dimension to Sri Lanka’s grain-processing capabilities. Durum wheat is primarily used to produce semolina and pasta products, requiring milling systems designed to efficiently separate the grain’s endosperm and produce consistent particle sizes and quality characteristics. Durum wheat milling requires specialized equipment and processing conditions distinct from those used for common wheat, given the crop’s harder kernel structure and its primary use in pasta and semolina production.

Baltic grain surge disrupts urea exports as port congestion delays shipments RUSSIA – Surging grain shipments through Baltic Sea ports are disrupting fertilizer export schedules, with urea-loading delays ranging from one week to a month, according to market participants surveyed by S&P Global Energy. Congestion at port terminals and on connecting rail networks is affecting fertilizer producers across the region, potentially tightening near-term supplies ahead of expected demand from major importers, including Brazil. The disruption follows a shift of Russian grain exports to the Baltic Sea amid persistent attacks on Black Sea ports, which have constrained trade flows since early July. Grain exporters have increasingly turned to nongrain terminals, intensifying competition for port capacity alongside steel and fertilizer shipments. Fertilizer traders reported that the combined pressure on rail infrastructure, storage facilities and port operations was complicating export planning. Russian wheat sellers have also struggled to move grain to export terminals. Market participants reported that railway delays and limited storage capacity were restricting offers, while overcrowded terminals were complicating inland transportation and the loading of vessels.

Olam Agri strengthens presence with second office in Spain SPAIN – Olam Agri has opened a second office in Spain, establishing a new base in Madrid to strengthen relationships with customers and suppliers and expand its agricultural commodity import and domestic distribution capabilities. The new office places the agribusiness company closer to customers and suppliers across Spain’s interior, supporting its efforts to improve service delivery and reinforce its presence in the Spanish agricultural commodities market. The move reflects Spain’s strategic importance to Olam Agri’s European trading and distribution activities. Olam Agri supplies a range of agricultural commodities to the Spanish market, including maize, wheat, barley and soybeans. Through its global sourcing network and integrated supply chain, the company combines international procurement capabilities with local market knowledge to serve customers and maintain dependable supplies of essential agricultural raw materials. The Madrid office builds on the company’s existing presence in Barcelona, its first office in Spain, which marked the start of its operations in the country. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 19

SUPPLIER NEWS & INNOVATIONS

INVESTMENT

SWISCA expands strategic focus to full-scope turnkey milling solutions

CHS breaks ground on US$700M soybean processing plant USA – CHS has broken ground on a planned soybean processing facility near Evansville, Wisconsin, marking a major investment in domestic oilseed processing capacity. The project is expected to strengthen market access for farmers while meeting growing demand for soybean oil and meal across food, animal feed and renewable fuel industries. The facility represents an investment of approximately US$700 million and is designed to process 80 million bushels of soybeans annually. Once operational, it is expected to produce approximately 1 billion pounds of soybean oil and 2 million tons of soybean meal each year. Construction is expected to begin after the required permitting is complete, with the plant targeted for completion in autumn 2028. The investment comes as demand for soybeanderived products continues to expand, particularly in food manufacturing, livestock nutrition and renewable fuel production. The new facility will be located in southern Wisconsin, an important soybean-producing region with substantial demand for soybean meal from livestock producers. Its proximity to soybean farms, rail services and

major transportation corridors is expected to support efficient movement of raw materials and finished products to domestic and international markets. The plant will complement CHS’s existing soybean processing operations in Fairmont and Mankato, Minnesota, which together process approximately 119 million bushels annually. Once the Evansville facility becomes operational, the cooperative’s soybean processing capacity is expected to increase by more than two-thirds, significantly expanding its oilseed processing network. The project reflects broader investment in United States soybean crushing capacity as processors respond to demand for vegetable oils, protein meals and biofuel feedstocks. By expanding processing infrastructure closer to production areas, CHS aims to create additional value for farmer-owners, improve supply-chain efficiency and support long-term growth across the agricultural sector. At the event, CHS also announced US$50,000 in community investments in Evansville, including support for the CARE Closet Program and the high school agriculture program.

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BELGIUM – SWISCA AG has officially transitioned from a high-precision standalone equipment manufacturer to a comprehensive, full-scope milling solutions provider following the successful turnkey commissioning of the CERES Mill in Brussels, Belgium. The modernized facility, owned by the Bindewald & Gutting (BiGu) Milling Group, has a capacity of 900 tonnes per day and was recently presented to about 350 industry experts at the inaugural Milling Forum Europe. The CERES project demonstrates SWISCA’s approach to combining engineering, process technology, equipment supply, installation and commissioning within a single project. Working within an existing 11-storey silo building, SWISCA and BiGu adopted a vertical engineering concept rather than a conventional floor-based milling layout. The design uses gravity to transport material through the plant, reducing dependence on pneumatic conveying. The facility operates two milling lines with capacities of 600 tonnes per day and 300 tonnes per day. SWISCA equipment installed at the plant includes 38 ROMIL roller mills and 77 SIFTO plansifter modules

Bunge to process BASF’s InVigor Gold hybrid canola USA – Bunge has entered a strategic commercial partnership with chemical and agricultural solutions company BASF to crush and process BASF’s new InVigor Gold hybrid canola seed. The agreement establishes a critical commercial supply chain pathway ahead of the product’s targeted United States rollout in 2027, unlocking new production opportunities for farmers across arid and challenging environments. InVigor Gold is a canola-quality (Brassica juncea) hybrid specifically bred to thrive in hotter, drier regions and soils with lower organic matter, where traditional black-seeded canola (Brassica napus) often faces yield constraints. Affirmed by the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) as meeting full canola-quality standards, the harvest can be processed standalone or directly co-mingled with conventional canola varieties without disrupting existing crush operations. Bunge plans to initiate crushing operations for the novel seed at its processing plant located in Warden, Washington. BASF introduced InVigor Gold to growers in 2025 as a new approach to unlocking the genetic potential of canolaquality Brassica juncea. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

INVESTMENT

SATAKE partners with Golfetto Sangati to strengthen global cereal milling business JAPAN – SATAKE has announced a business partnership with Golfetto Sangati Industries, an established Italian manufacturer of flour milling machinery, to strengthen and expand its cereal business globally. The partnership brings together SATAKE’s expertise in rice milling and food processing technologies with Golfetto Sangati’s longstanding experience designing and manufacturing milling equipment. Headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan, SATAKE has developed a global presence in rice milling machinery, food processing equipment and technologies supporting grain and food production. The company said the partnership with Golfetto Sangati is a strategic step to expand its capabilities and market presence across the broader cereal sector. Golfetto Sangati, headquartered in Treviso, Italy, has decades of experience in flour milling and cereal processing machinery. Its technological heritage includes equipment and systems designed to process wheat and other cereals, positioning the company as an established player in the global milling industry. Under the partnership, SATAKE and Golfetto Sangati will seek to combine their respective technologies,

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engineering expertise and industry know-how. The collaboration is expected to help the companies strengthen their offerings to customers across the cereal processing and milling value chain. For SATAKE, the partnership provides an opportunity to build on its established position in rice processing while expanding its activities in cereal milling. The move comes as the global milling industry continues to place greater emphasis on processing efficiency, automation, product quality, energy management and the ability to meet changing food industry requirements. The collaboration could also support the development of integrated solutions for cereal processors by bringing together complementary technologies from the two companies. SATAKE’s experience in optical sorting, rice milling, and food processing could complement Golfetto Sangati’s expertise in flour milling systems and cereal processing. The companies said the partnership reflects their commitment to contributing to innovation in food production technology and supporting the global food supply chain.

Elian secures US$45.7M investment to expand plantbased protein production SPAIN – Elian, a developer of sustainable plantbased protein ingredients, has secured a €40 million (US$45.66M) investment from the Spanish Development Financing Company (COFIDES), with the state-owned investment institution becoming a minority shareholder as the company accelerates the expansion of its plant-based protein operations at the Port of Barcelona. The investment is intended to consolidate Elian’s industrial project and support its future growth. The investment is structured through Spain’s Co-investment Fund (FOCO), an instrument managed by COFIDES that supports strategic projects through co-investment with foreign investors. Elian is part of Viserion International, which is acting as the co-investor in the transaction. According to Spanish media reports, the €40 million (US$45.66M) investment gives COFIDES a 13.8% stake in Elian. Elian is investing more than €300 million (US$342.4M) in its Barcelona facility, which is being developed as an integrated production hub for plant-based protein and other oilseed-derived products.

Bühler launches OLFC flaking mill to optimize oilseed processing performance SWITZERLAND – Bühler has launched the OLFC, a new flaker system for oilseed processing designed to extend roll service life, reduce vibration, and provide operators with greater access to real-time machine performance data. The OLFC is designed to process cracked oilseeds, including soybean, canola, and sunflower seeds, which are pressed into thin flakes before oil extraction. Bühler says each machine can process up to 500 tonnes per day, and consistent flake size and thickness are key to the efficiency of subsequent oil extraction processes. Flakers press cracked seeds such as soybean, canola and sunflower into thin flakes before oil extraction, a continuous process where equipment reliability is critical; unplanned downtime disrupts production schedules, and flake size and thickness consistency affect how efficiently oil is later extracted. Flaking is an essential primary step in oilseed preparation, requiring precise thickness control to optimize downstream solvent extraction and press yields. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 21

COMPANY FEATURE: OLAM AGRI

THE COMPANY

BEHIND

THE SHELF How Olam Agri Is Building Africa's Food Manufacturing Backbone BY FRIDAH CHEPKOECH

alk through a market in Accra, Lagos or Dakar and count what sits on the shelves: loaves of bread, packets of pasta, bottles of cooking oil, sacks of poultry feed stacked behind the counter for the trader who supplies the local chicken farm. Some of what ends up there starts within the region itself, and much more still arrives on a ship from thousands of kilometres away, but either way, somewhere between the farm or the port and the shelf, a handful of companies turned raw commodities into something a household could actually buy. Olam Agri is one of those companies, and it has over time become one of the more important pieces of the region's food infrastructure. A generation ago, its presence on the continent centred on sourcing and trading agricultural commodities rather than processing them. Currently, its factories mill flour, extrude pasta, crush soybeans and blend animal feed in markets where the population is growing faster than almost anywhere else on earth, and where getting food from farm to plate reliably is no longer optional. "Today, we transform agricultural commodities into everyday products including flour, pasta, edible oils and animal feed, creating more value within the markets we serve," Saurabh Mehra, Segment Head, Food & Feed Processing & Value-Added, Olam Agri, tells Milling Middle East & Africa magazine in an exclusive interview. That transformation, he explains, took more than three decades to build: Olam Agri's role in Africa evolved from establishing origination and trading capabilities to building processing, manufacturing and distribution operations closer to customers and consumers.

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COMPANY FEATURE: OLAM AGRI

FROM TRADING ORIGINS TO A LOCAL MANUFACTURING MODEL Mehra traces that evolution to how Africa itself has changed. Population growth, urbanisation, rising incomes and evolving diets have all pushed up demand for affordable, nutritious and convenient food products, he says, and recent global supply disruptions have shown that food security depends on both reliable access to internationally traded commodities and strong domestic processing capabilities. The company's strategy stays deliberately narrow, he explains: it invests where demand is sustained and where its sourcing, processing, distribution and customer relationships already give it a strong platform for long-term growth. That focus tracks a broader shift in the region's own consumer base. A growing, increasingly urban population is driving demand for affordable, convenient and nutritious staples. "For processors, the challenge is not simply to produce more," Mehra says. "It is to manufacture products reliably, efficiently and in formats that reflect local tastes, nutrition needs and purchasing patterns." Olam Agri has answered by expanding wheat milling, pasta manufacturing, soybean

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processing, edible oils and animal feed production in markets where it sees sustained demand, and by fortifying flour, pasta, rice and edible oils with essential micronutrients to widen access to nutrition through staples people already buy every day. THREE INVESTMENTS, ONE STRATEGY That strategy shows up most clearly in three recent projects, each built to answer a different regional gap. In Ghana, a 40 million dollar investment established the country's first pasta manufacturing facility, integrated with Olam Agri's existing wheat milling operations, expected to create around 300 jobs. The timing lines up with the market itself: Ghana grows essentially none of its own wheat and imports virtually all of it, with the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service forecasting the country's 2026/27 wheat imports at around 1.12 million metric tonnes. Pasta has been the fastestgrowing part of that import basket, with import values rising at a compound annual growth rate of 41.5 percent over the past decade, according to IndexBox data reported by Milling MEA earlier this year.

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In Nigeria, a 50 million dollar soybean processing facility in Kwara State connects locally produced soybeans with the country's growing demand for animal feed and edible oil, complemented by a partnership with IDH and Arzikin Noma aimed at bringing 5,000 smallholder farmers into the value chain through inputs, training, finance, mechanisation and market access. The opportunity is sizeable: Nigeria's animal feed market reached roughly 15.45 million tonnes in 2025, with poultry alone accounting for close to 80 percent of commercial feed production, according to industry estimates cited by Expert Market Research, while the country's aquaculture sector alone faces a feed supply shortfall of around 2 million tonnes, according to trade research firm Anderson International. "We do not apply a single model everywhere," Mehra says. "We identify specific gaps in each value chain and invest where we can strengthen local production, manufacturing and distribution." In Senegal, Olam Agri has doubled wheat milling capacity at its Diamniadio facility, and the expanded plant can now process more than 360,000 metric tonnes of wheat a year, enough to support bakeries, pasta and biscuit manufacturers, food processors and small and medium enterprises across the country. That expansion follows the market's own trajectory: Senegal's wheat imports climbed to nearly 1 million tonnes in 2025 as domestic consumption kept rising, positioning the country as a flour supplier not just to its own bakeries but to neighbouring markets across Francophone,West Africa. Mehra sums up the logic behind all three projects simply: process and manufacture more food closer to where it is consumed, while building value chains suited to each market's specific needs. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

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COMPANY FEATURE: OLAM AGRI

BUILDING RESILIENCE BEYOND THE FACTORY The case for local processing, in Mehra's telling, extends past convenience. "Food security depends on more than agricultural production," he shares. "Food must also be sourced, processed, stored, transported and distributed efficiently and safely." Local processing brings more of that chain closer to consumers, improving responsiveness to demand and reducing reliance on imported finished products, while also creating economic activity through manufacturing, technical employment, logistics, packaging, distribution and supporting services. None of this means eliminating agricultural imports outright, Mehra clarified. Wheat and similar commodities will keep moving through international trade wherever domestic production cannot meet demand, and the more resilient model, in his view, combines diversified global sourcing with strong domestic processing and distribution so countries can maintain supply while creating more value locally. That value chain extends into the fields themselves. In Nigeria, Olam Agri's Seeds for the Future initiative supports the development of wheat varieties suited to local growing conditions, and work with the Lake Chad Research Institute and expertise from ICARDA produced Crown, a heat-tolerant and super-early durum wheat variety that lets farmers harvest earlier and return to rice cultivation on time. The programme pairs seed development with agronomic training, initial financing and seed multiplication, with women-led cooperatives playing an important role in expanding access. Climate change is already reshaping farming conditions through rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more frequent extreme weather, Mehra notes, which is why

Saurabh Mehra, Segment Head, Food & Feed Processing & Value-Added, Olam Agri 26 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

OLAM AGRI EXPANDS AFRICA’S FOOD MANUFACTURING CAPACITY THROUGH LOCAL PROCESSING, INVESTMENT AND RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAINS the company's focus stays on practical interventions that improve resilience, productivity and livelihoods rather than broader pledges. Lasting climate resilience, he adds, ultimately depends on collaboration among farmers, governments, research organisations, businesses and development partners. THE 2050 QUESTION With Africa's population projected to reach around 2.5 billion by 2050, Mehra sees the next phase of the continent's food transformation as one that has to build capacity across the entire system, from farming and sourcing through to processing, manufacturing, logistics and distribution. "Made in Africa, for Africa should mean producing and processing more where the continent can do so competitively," he says, "rather than isolating Africa from global agricultural trade." Getting there will also require governments to hold up their end: predictable policies, efficient regulation, reliable energy and transport infrastructure, effective ports and logistics, and robust food safety standards, paired with agricultural, industrial and trade policies that let raw materials reach factories and finished products cross borders efficiently. The private sector, in turn, brings capital, technology, operating expertise, supply-chain capabilities and access to customers, and Mehra argues that partnerships between governments, farmers, research institutions and development organisations can solve constraints no single business can address alone. For a region adding hundreds of millions of consumers over the next quarter century, that combination, stronger local capacity paired with efficient regional and global trade, is what will decide whether Africa's food system keeps pace with its population. The objective should be to create commercially viable food manufacturing industries that can scale, compete and continue supplying consumers over the long term. MMEA WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

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TECH FOCUS: AI IN MILLING

WHAT AI MISSES ON THE MILL FLOOR & HOW TO CATCH IT BY GLEB TSIPURSKY

I is moving fast through milling operations across the Middle East and Africa. In April 2026, Saudi Arabia's First Mills became the first customer of Kodamai, a Glasgow-based AI company, deploying Kodamai's Kelvingrove platform across all four of its production facilities to manage procurement signals, supplier coordination and inventory levels in real time. The IAOM Middle East and Africa conference is cementing the same trend with its 2026 program built around AI-driven automation, framed as a way to raise extraction rates and cut downtime. This follows the 2025 edition, which drew more than 760 participants, including 229 millers from 79 mills, to discuss this shift toward AI. That promise carries a risk underneath it, because grain changes from shipment to shipment in ways a model cannot always see coming. Moisture, protein, foreign material, storage history, weather, equipment condition and operator adjustments all shape the result, and an AI system can find patterns across thousands of data points and still miss the one fact that matters on a particular shift. Mills need a way to catch that gap before it turns into a quality problem, and a yield exception ledger does exactly that.

the recommendation and the reason for the override, and quality data later shows whether the intervention protected flour consistency or simply reflected an overly cautious habit. The same discipline applies when the operator accepts the recommendation. If a mill changes tempering time, roll settings or blending proportions on an AI system's advice, it should record the outcome against extraction, ash, moisture and customer specification. IAOM's own 2025 conference highlighted how heterogeneous wheat blends and nonoptimal tempering times can quietly cut extraction by around 0.7 percentage points, worth more than three dollars a tonne at a 250 dollar wheat price. That is exactly the kind of quiet loss a ledger is built to surface before it repeats across a season.

BUILDING THE LEDGER The ledger is a short operating record of every consequential case in which an AI recommendation and the actual process conditions diverge. It needs six fields: the recommendation, the data behind it, the condition the system failed to capture, the operator's response, the immediate production result, and the follow-up action. A seventh field can flag whether the same exception has appeared before. Consider a system that recommends a faster feed rate because recent runs suggest the line can handle it. The shift supervisor notices unusual moisture variation in the current wheat lot and holds the rate steady. The ledger preserves both

WHEN SOURCING SHIFTS, THE MODEL FALLS BEHIND This record becomes more valuable when supply markets tighten. Jordan's state grain buyer issued a fresh tender in July 2026 for up to 120,000 metric tons of milling wheat from optional origins, after an earlier round for the same volume closed without a single purchase, with shipment windows running into October. When origins, prices and shipment timing shift this quickly, mills may end up processing grain with characteristics that differ from whatever data was used to tune their AI systems. A ledger makes that mismatch visible before a small assumption turns into a repeated quality problem across an entire production run.

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The record also changes the conversation between operators, engineers, vendors and executives. Without it, a disappointing result usually produces a vague argument over whether the technology failed or the staff resisted it. With it, the team can examine the exact recommendation, the missing condition, the response and the production outcome, which gives everyone a stronger basis for improving the model, updating a standard procedure or changing a supplier specification. RUNNING THE PILOT A 60-day pilot can start on one line, one product family or one plant. Review the ledger weekly with operations, quality, maintenance and the technology team, and track repeated exceptions, time to resolution, prevented downtime, avoided rework, first-pass quality, extraction stability and customer complaints. Watch, too, whether the system keeps making the same recommendation after people have already documented the same missing condition. The review should sort findings into three groups. Some exceptions call for better data, such as more frequent moisture measurements. Others call for a clearer decision rule, such as mandatory human review whenever raw material quality falls outside a defined range. A third group calls for training, because the system had adequate information but the user misread the recommendation. Procurement contracts should support this work too: mills can ask vendors whether the WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

system preserves the original recommendation, lets operators record their reasons for a change, and ties performance reports to operational outcomes rather than logins or alerts. The ledger protects operators as much as it protects companies. Experienced staff carry knowledge that never appears in a database, the sound of a bearing under load, the behaviour of a local grain variety, the early sign of a blocked screen, and recording that knowledge turns it into evidence the whole organisation can use rather than an objection nobody wrote down. As deployments like First Mills' spread across a region that sources wheat from wherever the market allows and watches its supply terms shift tender by tender, that discipline is what keeps AI's gains real instead of theoretical. A yield exception ledger does not slow adoption down. It gives mills across Africa and the Middle East a practical way to pursue higher extraction and lower downtime while keeping human judgment connected to measurable results. MMEA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gleb Tsipursky, PhD, is a behavioural scientist and CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, and author of The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 29

QUALITY & SAFETY: CONTROL MEASURES IN WHEAT

FDK & DON in Wheat

How Quality Teams Can Use Both

BY YANIV NOEMA

frica imports roughly 40 million tonnes of wheat every year, worth close to 15 billion dollars, most of it arriving from the Black Sea, North America and beyond. Egypt alone brings in around 13 million tonnes a year, more than any other country on earth, and Kenya depends on imports for close to 90 percent of the wheat it consumes. Every cargo that reaches a regional port carries a different harvest and a different risk profile, and two numbers on the intake certificate decide how a mill handles it: FDK and DON. Get those numbers right, and a mill protects its flour, its contracts and its customers. Get them wrong, and it either blends risk into product meant for local bakeries or rejects sound wheat and loses money it did not need to lose. TWO NUMBERS, TWO JOBS FDK stands for Fusarium-damaged kernels, the share of a sample showing visible fungal damage under a defined grading method. DON, or deoxynivalenol, is the mycotoxin that fungal infection leaves behind. A grader spots one by eye. A laboratory measures the other. The severe cases show themselves easily: kernels run thin,

shrunken and chalky, sometimes with a pink tint. The marginal kernels give graders more trouble, and they can pass for sound wheat at the end of a long shift, which is why a written standard matters more than instinct at the intake bench. The standard applied also changes what the number means, and that matters for a region sourcing from several continents at once. Canada grades Fusarium damage as its own factor, capped at 0.3 percent by weight for its top spring wheat grade, while the United States folds it into a broader damaged-kernel category. Two certificates can show an identical percentage and still describe different wheat. The two numbers track each other closely enough to act on, but not closely enough to trust blindly. Studies covering 163 wheat samples put the average correlation between FDK and DON at r equals 0.73. A 2022 study of 1,266 samples found that image-based FDK assessment carried the strongest relationship with laboratoryconfirmed DON among the methods tested. Newer research pushes that link further: at the 2026 International Wheat Congress, researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Saskatchewan built a model that predicts DON from image-based FDK data,

Sound red spring wheat and kernels showing progressively stronger Fusarium-damage symptoms. Visible kernel appearance can support FDK assessment, but it does not determine DON concentration. Source: Canadian Grain Commission, “Identifying wheat and barley seed affected by fusarium head blight.” Original page 30 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

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FDK reflects visible Fusarium damage, while DON testing determines mycotoxin concentration. Used together, they provide a fuller picture for grading, purchasing, processing and compliance decisions.

Graphic supplied by the author.

reaching r equals 0.90 in one wheat population. The work is still early, and no mill should treat it as a finished method yet. CATCHING THE PROBLEM BEFORE IT REACHES THE MILL Manual grading still has its place, and it is not going away soon. But consistency breaks down across two shifts, several graders and a long harvest season, and that is precisely where objective imaging earns its keep. A classification applied the same way to every sample means the result depends less on who happens to be at the bench that day, and it holds up better as cargo volumes grow. Mills can also keep the images on file for the first time a buyer disputes a result. The real payoff shows up in speed. When the FDK figure lands early, it decides what gets tested first: loads with heavy visible damage move to the front of the DON queue, and mills can hold them apart instead of blending them into the same bin as cleaner grain. Imaging does not replace the DON decision. It moves the mill's first look earlier, to the point where there is still room to act. Any automated method still needs validation for the wheat class and region it serves. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER INTAKE Sampling shapes everything that follows it. DON can sit unevenly within a single lot, and damaged or lightweight kernels can separate during handling, so a representative sample carries more weight than any test that comes after it. Sampling error usually outweighs every other source of error combined, which is why procedure decides whether a result can be trusted. Cleaning helps, though it does not guarantee an outcome. In a study of 35 commercial soft wheat samples run through a high-speed optical sorter, average DON fell to roughly half its starting level,, with individual samples ranging widely and one coming out worse than it went in. Cleaning can improve a lot of wheat, but only a test confirms where the DON WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

concentration actually landed. Milling and blending carry consequences of their own. Heavy FDK loads send more grain out with the screenings and leave less sound wheat behind, and swings between lots drive extra testing further down the line. Blending follows the law and the contract, but it does not remove DON from the wheat. Regulatory limits also differ across the markets this region trades with: the European Union sets binding maximum DON levels under Regulation (EU) 2023/915, while the United States FDA issues advisory levels rather than binding caps. For a region that imports from one set of markets and often sells flour into another, that gap in regulation decides which cargoes clear and which ones do not. THE PRACTICAL TAKEAWAY No mill needs to choose between the two figures. Use the visual information early, when it is often the only data on hand. Use the DON result wherever concentration decides the outcome, at any point where a limit or a customer specification applies. Objective imaging strengthens the first half of that process by making visual assessment more repeatable and easier to defend under review. The prediction work out of Canada deserves attention as it develops, but for now it belongs in the research column, not the intake floor. For mills across the Middle East and Africa, sourcing wheat from wherever the world can supply it, that distinction is what keeps flour safe and contracts intact. MMEA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Yaniv Noema is Software Development Manager at Vibe Imaging Analytics and works on computervision systems for agricultural and food applications. He writes about grain quality measurement and analytical methods. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 31

32 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

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MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA RECKON WITH THE TRUE COST OF

Black Sea Wheat BY VIVIAN IROANYA

cross a region that imports more wheat than any other, 2026 has shown that the biggest risk to the grain supply is no longer whether it exists, but whether it can be accessed. The Middle East and North Africa import more wheat than any other region in the world, and most of it has historically come from the Black Sea. Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, sourced 81 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine in the first half of 2026, and Algeria and Tunisia lean on the same corridor for a large share of their own supply. That dependence built up because Black Sea grain was close by, competitively priced, and reliably shipped. In 2026, all three of those advantages have been tested at once, and millers across the region are living with the result. WHERE THE GRAIN IS GETTING STUCK Since fighting between Russia and Ukraine escalated in July 2026, wheat prices at origin have fallen to multi-years low. Platts assessed its Milling Wheat Marker, the benchmark for Black Sea wheat, at a six-year low amid wary shipowners

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and lack of FOB demand. Russia's 2026 harvest was 94 percent complete by late September with yields improving to 3.62 metric tons per hectare from 3.58 in 2025, and Ukraine finished a 24 million ton crop. Both countries had grain ready to move, so the wheat itself was never the problem. What had broken down was the logistics for moving it. Attacks on vessels and port infrastructure through 2026 made shipowners wary of the region, and fewer ships called at its terminals. That mattered here, because Russia's deep sea ports normally handle about 60 percent of the country's export capacity and supply most of Africa and the Middle East on their own, and those ports were running well below normal throughput. The Azov shallow water route to Turkey, worth another 25 percent of capacity, faced the same trouble, and Russia's Baltic, Caspian, and overland routes grew congested too. Russia exported 2 million mt in August 2026, down sharply from 4.5 million in August 2025, and September is forecasted at above 2.3 million mt. Fullyear exports could reach below 40 million tons if the disruption dragged on, multiple

AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 33

REGION FOCUS: BLACK SEA WHEAT IN MEA

BLACK SEA GRAIN EXISTS, BUT FREIGHT AND PORT RISKS NOW DECIDE WHO EATS

34 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

market participants said. Ukraine faced a similar bottleneck, with around 85 percent of its exports depending on deep sea ports, and its total 2026 exports could fall to roughly 10 million tons if the war kept escalating. The strain was not one-sided. Russian farmers were living the mirror image of the MEA buyer's problem: grain they could not sell, because the same shutdowns had also stalled domestic demand. "This is a catastrophic level, with enormous losses," said Arkady Zlochevsky, president of the Russian Grain Union, describing what farmers were being paid at home in mid August 2026. The disruption squeezed both ends of the supply chain at once, not only the buyers in Cairo or Amman. For MEA millers, the number to watch was not the price of wheat but the price of moving it. Russian wheat shipped to Egypt cost about 70 dollars

per ton in freight alone in August 2026, against just over 40 dollars per ton from the Baltic. Platts' CIF East Mediterranean basis Egypt 12.5 percent wheat price assessment climbed from 246 dollars per ton in July 2026 to 317.5 dollars by September 25, 2026. Not every part of the region felt the squeeze equally. Egypt's government moved to procure record volumes of local wheat in 2026, close to 5 million metric ton, trimming its immediate reliance on imports even as its longer term exposure to Russia and Ukraine stayed high. Morocco and Tunisia saw better rains this year, easing pressure on their own import needs A stronger harvest at home does not solve the Black Sea problem, though it buys a region time to arrange the next shipment on better terms. HOW MILLERS ARE WEIGHING

WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

IN NUMBERS

85% SHARE OF UKRAINE’S EXPORTS DEPENDENT ON DEEP SEA PORTS

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THEIR BETS Tenders since July 2026 showed what buyers were willing to pay amid the uncertainty. Jordan's September 22, 2026 tender cleared at a 57 dollar per ton premium over early June 2026 pricing, Algeria paid more than 56 dollars extra, and Tunisia paid over 44 dollars more in September 2026. Saudi Arabia was on exception; it cancelled its September tender, citing high prices and large stocks, while Egypt and Turkey both leaned on smaller Ukrainian parcels via the Danube, a route that sidestepped the worst congestion. Turkey had more room to maneuver, since a domestic crop of 24 million tons meant it only needed to import around 4 million tons that year. Other origins absorbed some of the overflow, at a price. Romanian and Bulgarian wheat climbed to its highest level since 2023, with 11.5 percent protein wheat at 279 dollars per ton as of September 25, a premium of more than 67 dollars over Black Sea grain, though more than half of that harvest was feed grade, so the higher protein wheat millers wanted stayed scarce. Canadian, Australian, and French wheat all traded well above Black Sea levels too, with Canadian CWRS near 306 dollars per ton and Australian APW close to 310 as of September 25. Indonesia and Vietnam were shopping the same alternative origins, booking September and

October 2026 shipments, which threatened to keep those premiums high well past the quarter. At the Platts Cairo Freight & Grains Forum on Sept 9, importers in Egypt expressed a pessimistic outlook on when Black Sea export disruptions would end: 57% of the 30 respondents expected them to continue into the first quarter of next year, 33% expected them to end between October and December, and the remaining expected them to end by the end of this month. Where this leaves MEA millers is straightforward. None of the forces that could ease this, a peace settlement, currency shifts, a jump in Chinese demand, were within any single buyer's control. What stayed within reach was how procurement teams responded: sourcing from more than one origin and widening blending tolerance at the mill. For a region built on the assumption that Black Sea grain would always arrive on time and at a predictable price, 2026 has been the year that assumption stopped holding. MMEA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vivian Iroanya is a Senior Price Reporter and Market Editor at S&P Global Energy Platts AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 35

TOP 10 SOYBEAN PRODUCERS IN AFRICA 2026/2027 1

SOUTH AFRICA - 2,800,000 MT

NIGERIA - 1,500,000 MT

BENIN - 700,000 MT

GHANA - 360,000 MT

ZAMBIA - 340,000 MT

South Africa is currently the largest soybean producer in Africa, contributing about 2,800,000 MT and 0.63% of world soybean production.

Nigeria is the second-largest soybean producer in Africa, with 1,500,000 MT, contributing 0.34% of world soybean production. Nigeria remains the largest producer in West Africa and the biggest consumption market, with demand far exceeding domestic output.

Benin has consistently improved its soybean production over the last five years, contributing about 700,000 MT and 0.16% of world soybean production.

Ghana produces 360,000 MT of soybeans. The country’s soybean output has been rising as smallholder production expands to serve the growing poultry and livestock feed industries.

Zambia produces 340,000 MT of soybeans. Commercial farms and growing demand from the animal-feed industry support production.

36 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

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ETHIOPIA - 260,000 MT

UGANDA - 150,000 MT

8 9 10

Ethiopia is a significant East African soybean producer, contributing about 260,000 MT to Africa’s soybean production.

Uganda’s soybean area has expanded under programmes promoting improved seed and inoculants. USDA data indicate that Uganda contributes about 150,000 MT in soybean production.

ZIMBABWE - 85,000 MT Zimbabwe’s soybean output fluctuates with rainfall, access to agricultural inputs and macroeconomic conditions. The country produces 85,000 MT of soybeans.

EGYPT - 85,000 MT Egypt produces 85,000 MT of soybeans. Despite its relatively limited domestic production, Egypt is an important soybean market because of its large poultry, livestock-feed and soybean-processing industries.

TANZANIA - 32,000 MT Tanzania produces 32,000 MT of soybeans, and the crop offers opportunities for expansion as demand for livestock feed, edible oil, and plant-based protein increases. SOURCE: USDA FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE

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AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 37

SOYBEAN in

Africa BY STEPHEN KIBE

s a legume crop, soybean (Glycine max) has many nutritional attributes, ranging from high levels of protein (40%), carbohydrates (25%), oil (20%), fiber (10%), and minerals (4%) to bioactive compounds (1%) that are important for human nutrition and health. According to Giller and Dashiell in Plant resources of tropical Africa, soybeans were introduced to Africa by Chinese traders in the 19th century through the East African corridor, and the crop's cultivation was first documented in South Africa in 1903, followed by Nigeria in 1908, Malawi and Tanzania in 1909, and Ghana and Sudan in 1910,

38 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Closing the Gap Between Farm and Feed Mill

spreading across the entire African continent by 1912. Soybean cultivation increased following the discovery of its nutritional value in overcoming protein calorie malnutrition in children and pregnant or lactating mothers. Because of its protein-rich seed meal after oil extraction, soybean is also a valuable feed for the livestock industry. In Africa, the increased adoption of soybean as a crop was also driven by its multiple uses as food for humans and feed for livestock, as well as its industrial application as a biofuel and for the maintenance of soil health via biological nitrogen gas (N2) fixation and contaminant WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

removal for sustainable crop production. Soybean has transitioned from a niche rotational crop into a central driver of commercial agriculture across SubSaharan Africa. PRODUCTION VS CONSUMPTION According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and Agricultural Research Service, Africa accounts for approximately 1.3 percent, or 5.5 million metric tons, of global soybean production. Africa is experiencing rapid growth in domestic cultivation and import demand, driven by a booming population, a growing middle class, and expanding feed and poultry industries. A stark divide defines production across the continent: highly mechanized commercial farming dominates the south, while smallholder-led cultivation dominates the west and east. South Africa leads production at approximately 2.80 MMT in 2025/2026, followed by Nigeria with 1.5 MMT, Benin with 700,000 MT, Ghana with 360,000 MT, Zambia with WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

340,000 MT, Ethiopia with 260,000 MT, Uganda with 150,000 MT, and Zimbabwe with 85,000 MT, pointing to room for expanding cultivated land. The low share also stems from yield: the United States reached 3.56 MT/ ha in 2025/2026, against less than 1.35 MT/ha in Africa, according to the USDA. Poor management, low-yielding varieties, and unreliable rainfall account for most of this gap, and researchers under the Beijing Action Plan are pursuing modernization and technology transfer to close it. North African nations, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, along with South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, represent the largest demand hubs. Egypt alone imports over 5.0 million MT of whole soybeans and soy meal annually for its livestock and poultry sectors, and Africa imports nearly as much soybean as it produces. Edible oil production and products such as soybean texturates, a meat substitute, absorb most of Africa's 618,000 tons of annual soybean consumption, with

OPPORTUNITY LIES IN CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN SOYBEAN PRODUCTION & DOMESTIC PROCESSING DEMAND IN AFRICA AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 39

SOURCE: FAS USDA

COMMODITY UPDATE: SOYBEAN IN AFRICA

animal feed accounting for a smaller share. The USDA projects soybean and soybean meal feed usage will grow 59 and 35 percent respectively through 2029. MARKET DYNAMICS: DEMAND DRIVERS FOR PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION Demand for soybean continues to rise across Africa, driven by the growing feed industry for livestock, poultry and aquaculture. Soymeal serves as the standard protein source in compound feed because of its strong amino acid profile. Urban growth, a bigger middle class, and shifting diets toward animal protein have pushed poultry meat and egg consumption up 4 to 6 percent annually, and because soybean meal makes up 20 to 30 percent of poultry feed rations, commercial feed mills now account for over 75 percent of continental soy crushing demand. A secondary driver is the market for crude soybean oil, consumed by cooks, food manufacturers and industrial users. Major food conglomerates import it or process local seed for urban centers, substituting away from palm oil where prices allow. Human consumption is also growing through fresh beans, texturized soy protein, fortified infant cereals, and soy milk. Millers can blend soybean with maize and wheat flour for added protein, and soy protein remains central to meat analogues for consumers who prefer animal-free or lowersaturated-fat diets. Agronomic and market advantages are pushing farmers toward soybean too. As a legume, it fixes atmospheric nitrogen, cutting fertilizer costs for the cereal crops that follow it in rotation, and in low-input intercropping systems it also breaks pest cycles and retains moisture. Following the recent spike in fertilizer prices, smallholders across East and West Africa shifted acreage from maize to soybean, and guaranteed liquidity from feed millers offering cash-on-delivery terms 40 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

makes it a more reliable cash crop than price-regulated staple grains. OPPORTUNITIES FOR AFRICA Africa's biggest opportunity lies in closing the gap between soybean production and its expanding domestic processing demand. Local production can cut dependence on imported beans, meal and edible oils while raising farmer incomes and creating jobs across aggregation, logistics and processing. Government strategy is shifting from growing more beans to capturing more value domestically, treating soybean as a strategic commodity through subsidized inputs, seed distribution, farmer training and credit schemes. Companies including Olam Agri, Crown Flour Mills, Mount Meru Group and Willowton Group already operate crushing facilities across Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Zambia. In April 2026, Olam Agri opened a US$50 million soybean crushing plant and feed mill in Nigeria to process beans into edible oil and high-protein feed. FUTURE OUTLOOK AND GROWTH DRIVERS The future of Africa's soybean industry remains positive, backed by demographic fundamentals, regional trade integration, and expanding processing capability. Africa's population is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, accompanied by an urban population share exceeding 50%. This demographic transition will drive sustained structural growth in poultry, egg, dairy, and aquaculture feed markets, maintaining a baseline soy meal demand growth rate of 5% to 7% per annum. As seed technology improves yield figures closer to 2.0 MT/ha for smallholders, Africa's soybean complex will continue its transition from an import-dependent market into an integrated, self-sustaining regional value chain. MMEA

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I N N OVAT I O N S & T R E N D S I N T H E B A K E RY & S N AC K S I N D U S T RY

BAKING&SNACKS MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA P.42

P.46

BAKING FORMULATION

BAKING TECHNOLOGY

GLP-1 IN BAKING

BAKING EQUIPMENT

AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

42 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

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GLP-1 TRENDS RESHAPING THE BAKING INDUSTRY BY STEPHEN KIBE

From Bigger Portions to More Nutrition per Bite

he rapid growth of GLP-1-based medicines is emerging as a significant new force in the global food industry, with implications extending into bakery, biscuits, snacks, cakes and other traditionally indulgent categories. Medicines such as semaglutide and tirzepatide are changing appetite, eating frequency and portion sizes for many consumers, encouraging food manufacturers to reconsider what consumers want from a bakery product. GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, is a hormone involved in appetite regulation, blood-glucose control and feelings of satiety. Originally developed for diabetes management, these drugs have become mainstream weight-loss tools, with roughly 13-19% of adults in the US and Canada now using them. GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines can reduce appetite and food intake, meaning consumers taking them may eat smaller meals or snacks and become more selective about the foods they consume. Research and industry observations indicate that the resulting changes are already influencing food purchasing behaviour, with reductions in some discretionary and snack purchases and increased interest in nutrient-dense foods. According to Research and Markets, the global GLP-1 therapies market was valued at an estimated US$62.83B in 2025 and is projected to reach US$254.19B by 2034, expanding at a CAGR of 16.8% from 2026 to 2034. Rather than eliminating demand for baked foods, the GLP-1 trend is increasingly shifting the focus towards smaller portions, higher nutritional value, protein and fibre, lower sugar and products that deliver greater satisfaction per bite. THE RISE OF “NUTRITION PER BITE” One of the most important concepts emerging from the GLP1 trend is nutrition density. Consumers who eat less may place greater value on foods that provide protein, fibre and micronutrients within relatively small portions. Industry research therefore points towards a growing demand for highprotein and fibre-rich foods with controlled levels of sugar and calories. Innova Market Insights data show an 11.4% compound annual growth rate in US bakery product launches carrying a

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protein-rich claim between 2022 and 2025. Protein is arguably the most visible ingredient trend associated with GLP-1-oriented food development. Nutrition experts increasingly emphasize adequate protein intake for people undergoing weight-management treatment, particularly because maintaining muscle mass is an important consideration during weight loss. Fibre can be increased through whole grains, bran, resistant starch, fruit ingredients and other functional fibres. This creates a natural opening where bakery innovations can be reformulated using proteinrich ingredients such as dairy proteins, pulses, seeds and cereals. Ingredion, for example, identifies smaller portions and nutrient-dense eating as important consequences of GLP1 adoption and highlights protein, fibre and clean-label sweetening systems as areas for reformulation. Bakeries are moving beyond basic soy or whey powders toward sophisticated protein isolate blends (pea, fava bean, pulse flours, and vital wheat gluten) and incorporating resistant starches (like resistant wheat starch), inulin, psyllium husk, oat fiber, and upcycled pulse flours (such as chickpea flour). However, successful reformulation will require more than simply adding protein powder or fibre. Manufacturers must maintain softness, volume, flavour, machinability, shelf life and consumer acceptance. REFORMULATION WITHOUT ‘MEDICALIZING’ BAKERY Bakery manufacturers should be cautious about positioning ordinary food as a treatment for obesity or as a product specifically required by people taking medication. The opportunity is broader: developing products that naturally align with consumers' growing interest in protein, fibre, portion control and nutrient density. This creates a distinction between “GLP-1-friendly” marketing and nutrition-led innovation. Rather than placing pharmaceutical terminology prominently on packaging, manufacturers may achieve broader market appeal by communicating legitimate nutritional attributes such as protein content, fibre, whole grains, portion size and reduced sugar. Flour and ingredient suppliers such as Ardent Mills, ADM, AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 43

BAKING FORMULATION : GLP-1 IN BAKING

GLP-1 TRENDS PUSH

BAKERIES

TOWARDS SMALLER

PORTIONS AND

GREATER

NUTRITIONAL VALUE PER BITE

Corbion, and Puratos, and brands like Nestlé and Conagra are already rolling out proteinfortified snacks and portion-controlled treats. Ingredion is promoting resistant starches and pulse proteins for the same purpose, while Nexture has rolled out a "GLP-1 smart" formulation toolkit spanning its HiFood, Frulact, CSM Ingredients and Italcanditi units, including a fibre-based sugar-reduction system called Meltec designed to preserve texture in reduced-sugar bakery applications. IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRICAN AND EMERGING BAKERY MARKETS The GLP-1 trend is currently most visible in markets where access to weight-management medicines is expanding rapidly, but its influence could eventually reach emerging markets through global bakery innovation, ingredient suppliers and multinational food companies. In Africa, where bakery products such as bread, biscuits and other cereal-based foods are important components of urban diets, manufacturers could increasingly explore affordable products with improved nutritional profiles. However, affordability will remain critical. High-protein and functional bakery products can carry higher formulation costs, while premium ingredients may be difficult to incorporate into mass-market bread. African manufacturers may therefore explore locally available protein and fibre sources, including legumes, whole grains, seeds and other underutilized crops.

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The opportunity is particularly relevant to bakery companies seeking to respond simultaneously to nutrition concerns, urbanization and changing consumer lifestyles. Rather than copying premium Western products, manufacturers could develop locally relevant bakery foods that deliver improved nutrition at accessible prices. THE BAKERY INDUSTRY ENTERS A NEW PHASE GLP-1 medicines are unlikely to make bakery products disappear but instead force manufacturers to reconsider what consumers expect from each eating occasion. The traditional bakery proposition of volume, indulgence and convenience is increasingly being complemented by nutrition density, portion control, protein, fibre and premium sensory experiences. For product developers, the central challenge will be to deliver more nutritional value without sacrificing the taste, texture, aroma and affordability that make bakery products attractive. For marketers, the challenge will be communicating these benefits without over-medicalizing food. And for manufacturers, the opportunity lies in creating products that appeal not only to people using GLP-1 therapies but to the much larger population interested in healthier, more purposeful eating. The future of bakery may therefore not be about selling consumers more food, but about making every serving more valuable. MMEA WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

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Why the Right Equipment Determines Efficiency in East Africa's Bakery Milling Industry BY Juma Abdallah, Chair Bread & Baked Goods - Kenya Association Of Manufacturers Charter

s demand for bread and flour rises across East Africa, the equipment on the factory floor, not the price of wheat, is proving to be the real dividing line between producers that grow and producers that struggle. East Africa's bakery and milling industry is growing fast. Population growth, urbanization, changing consumer habits, and rising investment in food manufacturing have pushed demand for bread and flour to levels the region has rarely seen. Yet many manufacturers are still struggling with rising production costs, inconsistent product quality, high energy bills, and frequent equipment breakdowns. Raw material costs, taxes, and logistics often take the blame, but one factor gets

far less attention: the equipment manufacturers choose to run their operations. In my years working within the bakery industry across Kenya and Tanzania, I have come to see machinery as more than a production asset. It is the heartbeat of every bakery and flour mill floor. The equipment a business chooses shapes its efficiency, its consistency, its profitability, and ultimately how well it can compete. THE REAL COST OF CUTTING CORNERS ON EQUIPMENT Many businesses choose equipment based on price or output capacity alone. Cheaper machines often look attractive on paper, but they tend to break down more, use more energy, and cost WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

more to maintain over time. Manufacturers should measure the true cost of any piece of equipment across its whole lifecycle, not only at the point of purchase. A well chosen production line pays for itself through higher output, less waste, and dependable performance. Downtime is often the most expensive ingredient in the entire operation. Every hour a mixer, oven, roller mill, or packaging line sits idle costs more than the lost production. It means delayed deliveries, empty shelves, frustrated distributors, and buyers who start looking elsewhere. Much of East Africa's bakery equipment is still ageing, and it breaks down often, forcing manufacturers into cancelled deliveries, lower output, and costly overtime just to catch up. Modern equipment cuts down on these interruptions and helps businesses meet demand reliably. Energy is the other place where old equipment quietly drains profit. Electricity and fuel are among the largest costs bakeries and mills carry, and modern ovens with heat recovery systems, variable speed motors, and automated burners use far less energy than older models do. Energy efficient milling plants get more out of every stage of grain processing while drawing less power. As utility costs keep climbing, energy efficient equipment has moved from a nice-to-have to a basic requirement for staying in business.

THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT DRIVES EFFICIENCY, CONSISTENCY AND ENERGY SAVINGS IN EAST AFRICA’S BAKERY MILLING INDUSTRY

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WHY CONSISTENCY AND SAFETY START ON THE PRODUCTION LINE Customers expect the same quality every time, whether they are buying a loaf of bread or a bag of flour. Modern production systems handle precise ingredient dosing, controlled mixing, accurate proofing, even baking, and automated packaging, all of which keep quality steady from batch to batch. For millers, advanced roller mills, sifters, and moisture control systems keep flour characteristics consistent enough that bakers can build recipes around them with confidence. That consistency is what keeps customers loyal and complaints low. Food safety follows the same logic. More manufacturers now need to meet HACCP, ISO 22000, and similar standards, and equipment built with hygienic stainless steel, enclosed conveying systems, and surfaces that are easy to clean lowers the risk of contamination and speeds up sanitation. Food safety should never rest on staff discipline alone. It needs to be built into the equipment itself. Automation supports both goals without

replacing the people on the floor. Instead, it frees staff to focus on quality checks, preventive maintenance, and production planning, work that adds more value than manual repetition. Automated batching, mixing, slicing, packaging, and palletizing improve accuracy, cut down on human error, and reduce labour costs, which together raise productivity and give managers better control over the whole line. PLANNING FOR THE NEXT DECADE, NOT THE NEXT BREAKDOWN The milling side of the business faces the same pressure in a different form. Efficiency in flour milling depends on far more than grinding grain. The cleaning equipment, conditioning systems, roller mills, sifters, and packaging technology a mill chooses all affect its extraction rate, its energy use, and the quality of the flour it sends out. Even a small gain in extraction rate can add up to real savings over a year, and modern milling technology lets producers turn out premium flour more consistently at a lower operating cost. Most manufacturers still wait for equipment to fail before acting, which is usually the most expensive way to run a factory. Choosing machinery with strong after-sales support, locally available spare parts, and a predictable maintenance schedule cuts down on surprise breakdowns considerably, and preventive maintenance almost always costs less than an emergency repair or a stopped production line. East Africa has enormous potential to become a regional hub for flour milling and baked goods, but that ambition will not happen on outdated technology. Getting there means treating equipment purchases as long-term strategic decisions rather than one-off costs, and it means governments, lenders, and development partners stepping in with financing that smaller processors can actually reach, since they are often the ones running the oldest machines on the tightest margins. The future of this industry will not be decided only by access to wheat, flour, or good distribution networks. It will be decided by how efficiently factories turn those raw materials into products people buy every day. The companies that lead the next decade will be the ones that invest in equipment that is reliable, energy efficient, and built for where the industry is headed. Efficient equipment builds efficient businesses, and efficient businesses are what will make East Africa's food manufacturing sector genuinely competitive. MMEA AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 47

BAKING & SNACKS NEWS

MERGERS & ACQUISITION

CTC approves Mega Market’s takeover of Lobels Bread under strict competition conditions

ZIMBABWE – The Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) has officially approved fastmoving consumer goods giant Mega Market’s proposed acquisition of Lobels Holdings, clearing a major transaction that brings together a flour miller and one of Zimbabwe’s established bread and confectionery manufacturers. The merger unites one of the country’s premier bread and confectionery producers with an expanding agricultural milling enterprise, creating a heavily integrated player across Zimbabwe’s food manufacturing value chain. To address anticompetitive risks associated with vertical integration, the regulatory body instituted targeted remedies governing procurement and supply terms. Under the binding approval framework, Lobels is required to purchase at least half of its total bread flour requirements from alternative local millers during the first two years postmerger, preventing the bakery from sourcing exclusively from Mega Market’s milling operations. The requirement is intended to prevent the merged

company from directing Lobels’ entire flour demand to Mega Market and thereby restricting opportunities for competing local millers. Concurrently, Mega Market must continue supplying external rival bakeries on nondiscriminatory commercial terms, ensuring competing bakers receive equitable pricing, volume discounts, flour grades, and delivery schedules without preferential treatment for Lobels. In addition to market competition safeguards, the watchdog prioritized labor protection within the domestic food sector. The transaction, formally notified to the CTC on 10 July 2026, links Mega Market’s milling operations with Lobels’ bread manufacturing and distribution businesses. Mega Market, established in 2000, produces and distributes fast-moving consumer goods including rice, pasta, tinned fish and salt. Through its Mega Market Milling subsidiary, established in 2023, the company manufactures bread flour, cake flour, self-raising flour, biscuit flour and maize meal.

48 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Jones Village Bakery reopens US$35.8M facility seven years later UK – Jones Village Bakery has resumed production at a new £27 million (US$35.76M) facility in Wrexham, seven years after a devastating fire destroyed its former flagship bakery, marking a major milestone in the Welsh company’s recovery and expansion. The state-of-the-art bakery, located on Wrexham Industrial Estate, the company has described as one of the most modern bakery facilities in Europe. The fire in August 2019 severely damaged the bakery’s original production site, leaving the familyowned business facing a significant operational challenge. Rather than scale back, Jones Village Bakery continued investing in its operations and expanded production at other facilities. The company has since tripled its turnover and increased its workforce from about 500 employees at the time of the fire to more than 1,200 today. The new facility forms part of the company’s wider investment programme and provides additional capacity for bread production while incorporating advanced equipment designed to improve efficiency, consistency and product development.

Vicky Foods invests US$21.6M to double baked goods production capacity in Algeria ALGERIA – Spanish food manufacturer Vicky Foods is investing €19 million (US$21.59 M) to expand its production facility in Sig, near Oran, doubling the plant’s capacity as it strengthens its position in Algeria’s bakery and confectionery market. The expansion includes a new building of more than 10,000 square metres, a warehouse and two new production lines dedicated to sponge cake sheets and bread. The first of the two new lines, dedicated to sponge cake sheets, began operations in July 2026 and adds 7,000 tonnes of annual production capacity. The line will support the manufacture of new Dulcesol products, including mini snacks, mini rolls, chapelas and squareformat pastries. The company markets its baked goods in Algeria under the Dulcesol brand. A second production line focused on bread is scheduled to begin operations in October. With an additional capacity of 8,000 tonnes, the line will manufacture products including hamburger buns, sliced bread and other bread varieties. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

K-State opens US$130M Western Star Global Grain and Food Center

MERGERS & ACQUISITION

Nexture expands Middle East presence with La Crema acquisition UAE – Nexture S.p.A. has signed an agreement to acquire Dubai-based La Crema, a manufacturer of chocolate and value-added food ingredients for the bakery, fine pastry and ice cream sectors. The transaction will establish Nexture’s first manufacturing presence in the Middle East while broadening its portfolio of value-added solutions for the food and beverage industry. Completion is expected by the end of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. La Crema was founded in Dubai by Bilal Khalife in 2016 and initially operated as a trading business serving the hotel, restaurant and catering (HoReCa) sector. The company moved into manufacturing in 2018 and has since developed a portfolio covering chocolate sauces and cream fillings, chocolate bars, chips and buttons, assorted chocolates, ice cream solutions, ready-mix powders and fruit fillings. The company markets these products under the La Crema brand and through private-label arrangements. The company operates a manufacturing facility in Dubai and employs WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

approximately 170 people across production, operations, sales and marketing. Its established distribution network serves wholesalers, distributors and retailers, providing Nexture with a platform to supply customers across the Middle East and pursue additional regional opportunities. For Nexture, the acquisition will add a broader range of chocolate-based ingredients to its existing portfolio of valueadded solutions. The company said the expanded offering will create opportunities across bakery, pastry and gelato applications, while allowing the group to leverage La Crema’s regional capabilities alongside its international manufacturing and commercial network. After completion, Nexture’s industrial footprint is expected to grow to 30 factories worldwide, up from eight when the group began its expansion following the acquisition of CSM Ingredients in 2021. The network will include 2 facilities in North America, 4 in Africa, 1 in the Middle East, 1 in Asia and 22 across 8 European countries. The group’s workforce is also expected to exceed 2,900 employees.

USA – Kansas State University (K-State) has officially opened its new US$130 million Western Star Global Grain and Food Center at its Manhattan campus, marking a defining moment for the future of agricultural education, research, and industry partnership. At the grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony, university leaders, public officials, and agricultural industry partners gathered to unveil the landmark 178,000-square-foot facility. Representing the largest single agricultural construction project in K-State history, the three-story complex marks the completion of the university’s broader US$216 million Agriculture Innovation Initiative designed to reshape global grain, food, and animal processing education. The state-of-the-art center brings together several of K-State’s world-renowned academic and research disciplines into a single collaborative hub. By physically connecting new facilities with renovated space in Call Hall and Weber Hall, the complex unites programs in milling science and management, bakery science, feed and pet food science, and food science and industry alongside animal science research.

Aryzta, Brinker enter strategic partnership to strengthen bakery supply chain SWITZERLAND – Aryzta Food Solutions GmbH has entered a strategic partnership with German artisan bakery Brinker Bakery, designed to combine Brinker’s baking expertise with Aryzta’s capabilities in frozen bakery products, sales, distribution and logistics. The partnership was announced in September 2026 as Brinker reorganizes its business around fresh bakery production and its retail network. Under the arrangement, Aryzta will take over Brinker’s frozen bakery products business and associated business-to-business customer activities. Aryzta will also permanently offer selected Brinker products and become responsible for the logistical supply of Brinker’s approximately 70 company-owned retail outlets. The move gives Aryzta a larger role in serving Brinker’s existing business customers while extending its distribution and logistics activities in Germany. Brinker, based in Herne, will focus more closely on producing and selling fresh, artisan bakery products through its own stores and regional freshdelivery operations. For Aryzta, the agreement adds to its presence in the European bakery market. AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 49

BAKING & SNACKS NEWS

NEW INNOVATIONS

Puratos launches ProteinPro mixes for high-protein bakery products

USA – Puratos has launched ProteinPro Strength and ProteinPro Flex, two cleanlabel, high-protein bakery mixes designed to help commercial bakers respond to growing consumer demand for proteinenriched everyday foods. The new solutions are formulated for breads, buns, bagels, and flatbreads, focusing on adding protein and fibre while maintaining the softness, taste, texture, and consistency expected from conventional bakery products. The launch comes as protein moves beyond sports nutrition and specialist products into mainstream eating occasions. According to Puratos’ Taste Tomorrow consumer research, 60% of consumers are actively seeking more protein in their diets. The company sees this shift as an opportunity for bakers to develop nutritionally enhanced versions of familiar products without requiring consumers to change their established eating habits. ProteinPro Strength is designed for applications including breads, rolls, and bagels, where maintaining volume, softness, and eating quality can be challenging when protein levels increase. ProteinPro Flex, meanwhile, is intended for more

versatile applications such as buns, flatbreads and other bakery staples. Depending on the final formulation, products made with the mixes can qualify as a good or excellent source of protein and fibre. Puratos said the mixes address a key technical challenge of protein enrichment: maintaining product quality while increasing nutritional value. Higher protein levels can affect water absorption, dough handling, texture, and finished-product characteristics. ProteinPro was developed to simplify formulation and production, allowing commercial bakeries to add protein without extensive troubleshooting or major changes to existing processes. The company is positioning its products as readyto-use solutions that reduce the complexity and development time of launching high-protein bakery products. This could be particularly relevant to industrial and commercial bakeries seeking to respond quickly to changing consumer preferences while maintaining consistent production performance across larger volumes. Puratos already provides bakery mixes and improvers designed to improve convenience, consistency and cost efficiency for professional bakers.

50 AUG/OCT 2026 | MILLING MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

ADM advances Nature’s Gold regenerative flour programme UK – ADM has expanded its Nature’s Gold™ regeneratively sourced flour programme by introducing a segregated supply chain option designed to improve traceability and transparency from participating farms through to the mill. The move builds on the company’s Nature’s Gold Baker’s Bread Flour and its UK re:generations™ regenerative agriculture programme, providing bakers with greater visibility into the origin and journey of the wheat used in their flour. Under the new model, wheat produced by participating UK growers using regenerative farming practices is physically separated as it moves through ADM’s supply chain. This replaces the previous mass-balance approach, in which regenerative and conventional wheat could be combined within the supply chain. ADM said the segregated system strengthens the connection between growers, grain origination, milling and customers while maintaining the flour’s established quality and performance. The Nature’s Gold regeneratively sourced flour is available through ADM Milling’s nationwide UK distribution network.

General Mills appoints Dana McNabb as Chief Executive Officer USA – General Mills has appointed Dana McNabb as its next Chief Executive Officer, with the leadership transition scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. McNabb, currently the company’s Chief Operating Officer, will succeed Jeff Harmening, who will become Executive Chair of the General Mills Board of Directors. The company’s board unanimously approved the appointments after a multi-year succession planning process. McNabb will take over the leadership of one of the world’s major branded food manufacturers after 27 years with General Mills. Her previous roles include Group President of North America Retail, Group President of Europe & Australia, President of the US Cereal operating unit and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer. McNabb became Chief Operating Officer in June 2026, expanding her responsibilities to cover all four of General Mills’ operating segments: North America Retail, North America Pet, North America Foodservice and International. WWW.MILLINGMEA.COM

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