Olam Agri to commission US$40M pasta plant in Ghana, expanding wheat value chain
Building on the experience and success of a decade of wheat processing, Olam Agri is developing a pasta production plant adjacent to its facility in Tema.
GHANA – Olam Agri is set to commission a US$40 million pasta production plant in Tema, marking a major expansion of its wheat value chain in Ghana and reinforcing its long-term commitment to local agro-processing.
The new facility, located adjacent to the company’s existing wheat mill, is scheduled for inauguration next month and is expected to strengthen domestic food manufacturing while reducing reliance on imported pasta.
The investment builds on the foundation laid in 2012, when former President John Evans Atta Mills launched Olam Agri’s US$55 million wheat milling facility in Tema.
At the time, Ghana depended heavily on imported wheat flour, exposing bakeries and consumers to global price volatility and supply disruptions. The mill changed that trajectory by processing high-quality wheat sourced globally into fortified brands such as First Choice and Royal Gold, stabilising local supply.
The facility, which employs 300 people and holds FSSC food safety certification, integrates grain storage, milling, and packaging under strict quality controls. It also operates an in-house bakery to test formulations under local conditions and deploys a technical sales team to support bakeries nationwide.
By 2017, rising demand led to a capacity expansion that doubled annual output to 275,000 metric tons.
This positioned Ghana as a wheat flour exporter to Togo, Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso. In 2019, Olam Agri became the market leader in Ghana’s flour industry, easing foreign-exchange pressures and enhancing regional supply stability amid global wheat volatility.
According to the company, the new pasta facility represents the next phase of integration, creating 200 new jobs, bringing total direct employment at the Tema complex to 500.
The move addresses Ghana’s heavy reliance on imported pasta despite strong domestic flour capacity, extending value addition from milling to finished consumer products.
“With this facility, we will be able to bring high-quality, highly nutritious, and affordable pasta products closer to our Ghanaian consumers than ever before,” said Baibhav Biswas, Country Head of Olam Agri in Ghana.
“This speaks of our commitment to Ghana and our efforts to contribute positively to the economic development and food security in the country, thanks to greater stability in the supply and affordability of pasta.”
The expansion has drawn government attention, with Simon Madjie, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), recently toured the wheat mill in Kpone and inspected the soon-to-be-commissioned pasta factory.
He described the project as aligned with Ghana’s industrialisation and value addition agenda, noting that private sector investment of this scale strengthens local production capacity and job creation.
Beyond infrastructure, Olam Agri has invested in the broader bakery ecosystem.
Since 2022, the ‘My Healthy Baker’ campaign has provided medical screening to more than 8,000 bakers, while the ‘Grain Hygiene Standards Management’ programme has trained over 1,400 bakeries in structured hygiene protocols.
Through the ‘Raising Generations’ initiative, run with Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training Service, the company supports vocational pathways for bakers’ dependents. Annual Bakers’ Conferences further strengthen technical knowledge and market responsiveness.
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