• Moroccan engineering firm REMORA has completed a wheat flour mill in Senegal with capacity of 500 tons per day.
• Wheat consumption in Senegal has risen sharply, with imports climbing more than 30% in five years.
• Expanded milling capacity could also support Senegal’s growing exports of wheat flour within West Africa.

Moroccan industrial engineering company REMORA announced on February 27 that it has completed construction of a wheat flour mill in Senegal. The company, which specializes in installing and assembling agro-industrial plants, said in a statement on its website that the new facility has a processing capacity of 500 tons of wheat per day.

The identity of the project’s promoter has not yet been disclosed. Still, the launch of the new mill is expected to strengthen Senegal’s wheat flour production capacity. It also reflects sustained demand for wheat and wheat-based products, which continue to attract investment from industrial players.

A Market on the Rise

Senegal has become the third-largest wheat importer in West Africa, behind Nigeria and Ghana. Wheat is now the country’s second most consumed cereal after rice, and its role in local diets continues to grow. It is mainly consumed in the form of bread, pastries, semolina, and pasta.

Annual wheat consumption per person rose from 27 kilograms in 2002 to 42 kilograms in 2020, according to official data. Because domestic wheat production is almost nonexistent—as in most West African countries—rising demand is met largely through imports.

Data compiled by Senegal’s National Agency of Statistics and Demography (ANSD) show that imports of soft wheat increased by 30.3% over five years, rising from 693,996 tons in 2020 to 904,947 tons in 2024. Over the same period, the total cost of those imports climbed by 55.24%, reaching CFA171.37 billion ($303.5 million).

These imports are processed by around ten milling companies. The largest by processing capacity include Grands Moulins de Dakar, Grands Moulins du Sahel, MS, FKS, NMA, and Olam.

Export Opportunities

While most imported wheat is processed and consumed in Senegal, part of the output is exported to neighboring West African countries.

According to the ANSD, Senegal’s milling industry exported an average of 13,861 tons of soft wheat flour per year between 2020 and 2023, with a peak of 29,249 tons recorded in 2021.

Export revenues averaged CFA3.86 billion ($6.83 million) over the same period, also reaching a high of CFA7.7 billion ($13.64 million) in 2021.

In this context, the expansion of wheat-processing capacity could also support further growth in Senegal’s flour exports in the coming years.

Stéphanas Assocle