At a formal event in Algiers, Baladna, a leading Qatari dairy and food producer, the Algerian government, and GEA, one of the world’s largest suppliers of systems and components to the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries – represented by CEO Stefan Klebert – signed a contract to enable the construction of the world’s largest integrated dairy farm and milk powder facility in Algeria. GEA was mandated to provide a comprehensive range of dairy farming and processing solutions for the project, which is one of the largest single orders for GEA to date. Milk powder production is planned to commence in late 2027, with gradual scale-up of production volumes over subsequent years.
Significant contribution to food security
Today, Algeria is the world’s third largest importer of milk powder. To strengthen future autonomy and food security in dairy products, the Algerian government – via its National Investment Fund – and Baladna QPSC from Qatar entered into the strategic partnership via the newly formed company subsidiary Baladna Algeria SPA.
The partnership’s purpose is to finance and manage the construction of a state-of-the-art integrated dairy farming and milk powder production facility in Algeria’s Adrar province. The locally produced milk powder is planned to meet about 50% of Algeria’s national milk powder needs, representing a significant step towards self-sufficiency. Additionally, the project will create approximately 5,000 job opportunities for local talents.
The facility will be the largest of its kind, located about 90 kilometers from the provincial capital. Construction will commence at the beginning of 2026, with first milk powder production scheduled to start in late 2027. Production volumes will be gradually expanded. When completed and fully supplied, this facility’s final capacity will amount to approximately 100,000 tons of milk powder per year.
“We are proud that Baladna and the Algerian government are entrusting GEA to play a key part in this lighthouse project,” says Stefan Klebert, CEO GEA. “Not only are we building the world’s largest facility of its kind – we are also helping to strengthen regional food security and economic development. This project showcases the attractiveness of our technologies and products, underpinned by our extensive capabilities for large-scale process and plant engineering.”
”This engagement with GEA marks a milestone in the acceleration of the project. We are proud to attract the most prominent national and international expertise and renowned companies from all over the world to contribute to the completion of the project, following the highest international standards,” Mohamed Moutaz Al-Khayyat, chairman of Baladna commented.
GEA delivering complete milk powder value chain
Leveraging its innovative portfolio of complementary engineering technologies, GEA will cover the entire value chain of milk powder production when constructing the facility – from dairy farming to processing and packaging of the final product.
The GEA divisions Farm Technologies (FT) and Liquid & Powder Technologies (LPT) are contractual partners with Baladna Algeria. For both of those, the project represents one of their single-largest orders ever received. Other GEA divisions will contribute technologies and products within that scope.
GEA will provide a broad range of solutions from a single source to run the facility’s large milking parlors as well as its milk powder and anhydrous milk fat installations. These include system solutions, such as separators, membrane filtration, heat treatment, as well as evaporation and spray drying plants. Automated packaging and service components are part of the scope, too. GEA has a global track record in large-scale plant and process engineering, including dairy projects in India, China, Qatar or Ireland.
High-level signing event in Algeria
Representatives of Baladna and Baladna Algeria, GEA, as well as other project partners took part in a formal signing ceremony at the Congress International Center in Algiers on 28 July. The event was attended by numerous high-profile guests, including Abdelaziz Ali Al-Naama, ambassador of Qatar to Algeria, Algerian Minister of Agriculture Youssef Cherfa and Mohamed Moutaz Al-Khayyat, Chairman of the Board of Baladna Food Industries.
One of the event’s highlights was the signing of the order contract by Ali Al-Ali, chairman of the Board of Baladna Algeria, and GEA CEO Stefan Klebert. The ceremony concluded with a reception and dinner in the early evening.
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Naresh Khanna – 10 February 2025
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