ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR — Seaboard recently announced that it has resumed grain milling operations on the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar after suspending activities in October 2008. The company has invested in a new 100% owned subsidiary called Les Moulins de Madagascar Farine s.a. (LMMF), which leases a flour mill in Antsirabe and rents a 32,000 tonne wheat silo storage complex in the main port.

The first two vessels of French and U.S. Hard Red Wheat have supplied the facility, and flour milling commenced on April 1. LMMF said its goal is to grow flour production to over 4,000 tonnes per month by late 2011. LMMF is the only company currently operating a commercial flour facility in Madagascar. The island nation has been importing flour since 2009.


LMMF noted that while the principal diet of the Malagasy people is rice, it is confident that they can grow sales of flour and consumption of wheat in Madagascar over the coming years.