Pran now making flour, semolina

Pran-RFL Group, one of the country's leading conglomerates with diversified interests, including in food processing, has started producing both whole wheat and refined flour alongside semolina. 

Flour has long been a key raw material for the group, which entered into the food business in 1985 on starting off with the business of manufacturing tube-wells in 1981.

However, up until recently, the 12,000 tonnes or so of the flour that the group required for its bakery products every month used to be sourced from local millers.

To save on costs, the group undertook a project with special focus on establishing a flour mill.

And that mill materialised in Gazipur's Kaliganj upazila, having a capacity to produce 500 tonnes of whole wheat and refined flour alongside semolina per day.

Since August the group started selling 50-kilogramme bags of flour, which are available both at wholesale and from which retailers can sell smaller portions to consumers.

The conglomerate is currently developing smaller, one and two-kilogramme packaging for flour and semolina.

It has simultaneously started importing wheat from the US, Canada, Russia and Ukraine, Naser Ahmed, executive director of Pran Group, told a group of journalists who were invited on a visit to the mill.

Pran-RFL Group also plans to source wheat locally, such as from Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Dinajpur, and Panchagarh, he said.

To facilitate the supply of the raw material, the group is even constructing a jetty on the Shitalakshya river near the mill.

Next to the jetty stands six massive grain silos, each of a capacity of 10,000 tonnes, alongside three others individually capable of storing 1,000 tonnes of grains.

"We have plans to install six more silos," said Ahmed.

The conglomerate embarked on making flour at a time when large corporations, such as the Meghna Group of Industries, City Group and Bashundhara Group, already account for a substantial share of annual market sales amounting to Tk 20,000 crore.

The nation annually consumes around 70 to 75 lakh tonnes of wheat derivates, according to market insiders.

Around 10 to 12 lakh tonnes is sourced locally while the rest is imported.

Around 75 percent of the demand for flour stems from businesses and restaurants, while the remaining 25 percent from individual households.

"The commodity market in Bangladesh is very big and has potential. Major companies are venturing into the bakery, culinary, and food processing sectors, leading to a heightened demand for flour," said Eleash Mridha, managing director of Pran Group.

The entry of new entrepreneurs into the consumer goods sector will foster competition that will ultimately benefit consumers, said the group.

That is why the flour mill is only a part of the group's Tk 1,500 crore investment plan on establishing "Kaliganj Agro Processing Limited" on 180 bighas of land in Kaliakoir.

The whole area will be used for the manufacture of edible oil, seed crushing, lentils, salt, starch, spices, beverage, noodles, biscuit, confectionery, poultry feed, and flexible packaging, according to a top official of PRAN Group.

The group already offers 6,500 products under 200 brands.

Around 900 individuals are currently employed at the Kaliakoir facility and a total of 3,000 jobs are expected to be created once it reaches full operational capacity, said Mridha.

"We have already invested Tk 750 crore so far. These products will also work as a backward linkage for industries in which we are currently doing business. This is another reason we came into this business," he said.