EBRD grants €5m loan to boost Moroccan olive oil sector

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will boost the olive oil sector in Morocco by granting a loan of up to MAD 55 million (€5 million) to Al Dahra Holding subsidiaries in the country – Al Dahra Morocco Factories (ADFAC) and Al Dahra Morocco (ADMO).

Proceeds from the EBRD loan will be used towards a new olive oil factory to be built and commissioned in the Fez-Meknes region.

The investment will support Al Dahra to also strengthen its existing olive farms in the region and also in encouraging all other olive farmers in the region to start producing olive oil. Al Dahra will sell the produced olive oil under the “Oliva”, targeting local and export markets.

Al Dahra is an agribusiness company which specializes in the cultivation, production, and trading of animal feed and food commodities and supply chain management. The group handles and operates a land bank of 350,000 acres across the world apart from forage processing facilities and rice and flour mills, with a total annual production of more than 4.5 million metric tonnes.

EBRD grants €5m loan to boost Moroccan olive oil sector. Photo courtesy of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

This is the first time that the EBRD is investing in the Moroccan olive oil sector, which marks the organization’s sixth in the northern African region.

According to the EBRD, Morocco is among the largest producers of olive oil across the world. The organization said that in the last five years, it has been partnering with Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other stakeholders to bring improvements in efficiency, product quality and boosting skills and standards along the Moroccan olive oil value chain by providing workshops and training programs.