$300M flour mill set up at Point Lisas

THE NUTRIMIX Flour Mill, a  new state-of-the-art complex located on the Pt Lisas Industrial Estate, will begin producing flour within the next six to eight weeks, according to the vice president of the Company, Ronnie Mohammed. The factory, which was built with equipment and machinery brought directly from Switzerland, will have as its chief flour miller Manish Mehrotra,  who came from Bombay, India, on a two-year contract to manage operations. The five-storeyed structure, which has been described as “excellent by international standards and impressive in design,” has a production capacity of 500 tonnes of flour per day. If the flour makes a dent on the local market, the mill can be expanded at short notice, Mehrotra explained.

The plant was built at a cost of $300 million. Mohammed said it will be producing four types of flour — all-purpose, bakers, cake and whole wheat. “We hope that with our variety and taste the consumers will be satisfied and the demand  for our flour will increase from day to day,” he said. An historic first shipment of wheat consigned to the Nutrimix Flour Mill came in yesterday through the port at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. Port officials described it as “the largest single grain shipment to ever be handled at the port.” The cargo is estimated to be approximately 7,500 tonnes of wheat, 2,100 tonnes of corn, and 1,500 tonnes of premix, totalling 11,100 tonnes.

Port Pt Lisas handled some 10,000 TEUs of containerised cargo and 63,000 tonnes of general cargo last year and is well on its way to meeting its 2004 throughput target of 130,000 TEUs and 65,000 tonnes of general cargo. The Nutrimix Flour Mill is easily identified on Pacific Avenue, with six towering sheet metal silos. Each silo, over 33 metres tall, houses 3,000 tonnes of grain. At the back of the compound sits an impressive modern factory enhanced by an arctic blue glass decor facade based on a design inspired by a famous hotel in Minneapolis, USA. The fully computerised automated mill will accommodate global access to orders and sales, Mohammed said. He said it is the most modern privately owned flour mill in the Southern Caribbean.