Egypt expansion: Angel Yeast opens first-of-its-kind extract factory in Middle East nation
The 24,000m² plant is expected to produce 12,000 tons of yeast extract products annually.
Yeast extract products, derived from edible yeast, are a major source of export revenue for the company.
According to the company’s spokesmen, Lance Zheng, James Sun and Jason Zhu told FoodNavigator-Asia, the demand for yeast is huge in the Middle East, despite it being a relatively new food ingredient for the region.
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The company set up its first dry yeast facility in Egypt in 2010, where 70% of the yeast products made there were exported to the Middle East and African markets.
With the new yeast extract plant, Zhu said, “Angel Yeast (Egypt) will have an annual production capacity of 35,000 metric tons of yeast and yeast extract products.”
Within the Middle Yeast, Angel Yeast currently supplies yeast extract to UAE and Egypt, but now, they plan to target all seven GCC countries, as well as EU and African markets.
Zhu said: “The distance from the new plant to EU, African and Gulf markets is closer than from our current Chinese plants, this greatly helps to provide timely and efficient service to the growing market needs in these regions.”
Sun said the plant had passed Kosher, Halal, BRC, ISO, and Sedex certifications in September this year.
The new plant, which took 18 months to construct, will contribute around 3% of Angel Yeast’s total sales, they said.
Besides Egypt and China, the firm also operates plants in Russia, with the latest factory in Dankov beginning production in February 2019.
In 2018, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loaned US$52 million to Angel Yeast Egypt to finance the construction of the new plant, as well as a wastewater treatment plant.
The investment in the new Egyptian yeast extract plant was an important strategic measure for Angel Yeast to implement global operations and was also an important action in response to the “One Belt, One Road” initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The completion of this new facility marks the milestone of Angel Yeast’s specialisation and internationalisation strategy, it said.
According to its earnings report for the third quarter in 2018, Angel Yeast’s revenue grew 17% to 4.89 billion yuan (US$691 million) year-on-year, while net profit rose 10% to 673 million yuan (US$95 million).
