• Silo Construction & Engineering has opened its only official African office in Abidjan
• The hub targets West Africa and the Middle East amid rising storage needs
• Africa imports 96.5 million tons of cereals a year, highlighting infrastructure gaps

The Belgian company Silo Construction & Engineering (SCE), which designs industrial buildings and silos for bulk storage in the agrifood and animal feed sectors, announced on January 8 the opening of a new office in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

This is the only official African presence currently highlighted by the company on its website. The Abidjan office is presented as a local commercial platform serving the wider Africa and Middle East region. “This local presence ensures faster communication and stronger support throughout your project. It also gives us valuable insight into the region’s specific needs,” the company said.

While SCE did not detail the specific reasons behind its choice of Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan meets logistical, commercial, and strategic criteria. As the country’s economic capital, it offers strong access to Francophone West African markets, with links to key countries including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal.

The move also reflects the Belgian group’s intention to strengthen its positioning in Africa to benefit from growing demand for modern agricultural and agro-industrial infrastructure, driven by concerns over post-harvest losses and food security.

On a continent where cereals such as corn, rice, sorghum, and wheat play a central role in food security, shortages in storage and handling infrastructure remain a major constraint on cereal value chains. According to the World Bank report Transport connectivity for food security in Africa: strengthening supply chains, published in May 2025, available storage capacity in sub-Saharan Africa covers less than 30% of annual production. Limited storage capacity exacerbates post-harvest losses and food waste, including estimated losses of 40% for perishable crops and 20% for other food products, the report said.

Toward a stronger presence in Africa

With the Abidjan office, SCE has an opportunity to deepen its footprint on the continent. Before this opening, the company had already delivered several projects in Africa, including a flour mill with a processing capacity of 300 tons of wheat per day for M’bouna, Moulin des Boulangers in Mali, and the construction of 14 mineral silos for Moroccan animal feed producer Alf Sahel.

Overall, SCE has completed or is developing agro-industrial storage or milling projects in six African countries namely, Cameroon, Angola, Congo, Burundi, Uganda, and Kenya.

It remains to be seen whether the Abidjan office will enable SCE to secure new markets, particularly in West Africa. Africa is the world’s second-largest cereal-importing region after Asia, with average annual imports of 96.5 million tons between the 2021/2022 and 2023/2024 marketing years, according to the FAO.

Stéphanas Assocle