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Moroccan businessman Chakib Alj is moving to restart production at key flour mills linked to Forafric, shipping grain into plants in Meknes and Marrakesh as Ramadan demand nears and a takeover of the debt burdened group edges toward completion.
Alj, who leads industrial conglomerate Cap Holding and also chairs Morocco’s main employers’ federation, CGEM, has been in talks to acquire control of Forafric, a milling and pasta producer that has struggled under heavy borrowing and weak performance.
The latest grain deliveries are aimed at ensuring the mills can meet a seasonal surge in demand, when households and bakeries increase flour purchases for Ramadan meals. People familiar with the discussions say the restocking also serves a second purpose: demonstrating operational stability to lenders, suppliers and regulators as ownership arrangements shift.
Forafric’s industrial footprint in Morocco includes the Sanabil milling site in Meknes and Grands Moulins du Tensift in Marrakesh, facilities that produce soft wheat flour for the domestic market.
The company has been reshaping its asset base in recent years, weighing sales and consolidation as it tries to manage cash flow and reduce financial stress. Pressure on some plants has been a recurring issue as the company sought to refocus operations and preserve core production.
Forafric is associated with Franco Moroccan financier Yariv Elbaz, whose wider network spans grain trading and agro industry ventures. The group’s difficulties have become a sensitive topic in Morocco’s food supply chain, where flour milling sits at the intersection of import dependence, pricing pressures and the politics of staple goods.
Alj’s proposed deal has been framed by market watchers as one of the biggest potential shakeups in Morocco’s milling sector in years. Cap Holding already has a presence across industry and food related businesses, and absorbing Forafric’s assets could change competitive dynamics, especially in cities where mills are major employers and key suppliers to bakeries.
Neither Cap Holding nor Forafric has released a detailed timetable for closing the transaction. The push to fill silos ahead of Ramadan signals urgency, and the next test will be whether the mills can run reliably through the peak season while ownership talks move toward a final agreement.
