Tunisian cheese maker Land’Or receives financial backing from EBRD

Tunisian processed cheese maker Land’Or is set to expand its production capacity with a €10.9m ($12.8m) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The loan will be used by the cheesemaker to finance its new cheese plant in Morocco, as well as to increase production capacity at its facility in Tunisia.

As part of this initiative, EBRD will be providing a loan of TND82.2m (€7.8m) to Land’Or’s Moroccan subsidiary Land’Or Maroc Industries (LMI) for procuring and installing equipment at its new cheese manufacturing plant, which will be built in Kenitra, north of Rabat.

With capacity to produce 2,700t of processed triangle cheese annually, the new facility is expected to become operational by the end of next year.

In addition, the new facility will have the capacity to produce new products. It will feature new packaging to increase the company’s export potential.

For the expansion of Land’Or’s Tunisian facility, EBRD has agreed to provide a loan of TND10m (€3.1m). This amount will be used for purchasing new machinery and increasing production capacity.

Land’Or’s expansion project is also backed by the European Union (EU).

LMI will be receiving an EU grant under the bank’s Value Chain and Competitiveness Programme, which has been designed to improve value chains and aid companies to become more competitive in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region.

Since this February, the Tunisian processed cheesemaker has been part of the EBRD Blue Ribbon programme, which has been created to support high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises by offering them technical assistance to incorporate International Financial Reporting, as well as enhancing their export potential.