Ramallah – Together – On an area of ??17 dunums in the town of Beit Ula in the Hebron Governorate, the Rabieh Feed Factory began commercial production at a rate of 20 tons of feed per hour, as the factory’s strategic location will contribute to facilitating and reducing the costs of transporting feed products to merchants and farmers, and thus reducing prices. This is considering that about 45% of the total market needs for fodder are concentrated in the southern governorates of the West Bank.

The Rabieh Factory was established in partnership between the Palestine Investment Fund and PADICO Holding Company through the Palestine Industrial Investment Company, with the aim of contributing to bridging the gap in the large needs for fodder in the West Bank, as it is the second largest commodity in terms of import after electricity, at $530 million annually.

In order to focus investments in productive sectors, the Fund, along with its partners PADICO Holding Company, through the Palestine Industrial Investment C
ompany, took the initiative and invested in establishing the Rabieh Feed Factory, thus encouraging the Palestinian private sector to invest in this sector and establish similar projects, after the success achieved by Rabieh. In producing feed products with high quality and competitive prices, to meet the increasing demand for this commodity.

Announcement of the start of commercial production

The Investment Fund and the Palestine Industrial Investment Company chose to announce the start of commercial production in the factory by organizing an introductory tour of the factory this afternoon, in which His Excellency the Governor of Hebron, His Excellency the Minister of Industry, and a number of representatives of the private sector, the Chamber of Commerce, unions, and merchants participated. .

His Excellency the Governor of Hebron Governorate, Mr. Khaled Dudin, expressed his pride in this achievement, saying: ‘We are proud of this achievement on the land of the town of Beit Ula in the Hebron Governorate, an
d it is the result of joint cooperation between various national institutions, led by the Palestine Investment Fund and the Palestine Industrial Investment Company, with the aim of implementing the Rabieh factory.’ ‘Which will contribute to activating the region’s economy and providing job opportunities for the people of the governorate.’

Meanwhile, His Excellency Mr. Arafat Asfour, Minister of Industry, pointed out ‘the necessity of encouraging industrial projects in the country, and Rabieh is one of these projects that we are proud of. It is a project that contributes to the development of the Palestinian industrial sector, creates job opportunities, and supplies and participates in the development of other sectors such as agriculture and wealth.’ Animal trade, etc.

The industrial sector is the Fund’s top priority.

The Fund believes that the industrial sector plays a major role in improving economic indicators, increasing local products and contributing to reducing imports. It also constitutes a lever fo
r economic development and directly affects many other sectors. For these reasons, the Fund decided at the beginning of the year 2020 to enter into a partnership with the Palestine Industrial Investment Company, with the aim of establishing the Rabieh Feed Factory, to enhance the agricultural manufacturing sector, taking into account the increasing demand for feed in the West Bank, which has reached about 800 thousand tons annually.

In addition to Rabieh, the Fund is implementing a group of projects in the industrial sector, such as the cement factory in partnership between Sanad Company and the Issa Khoury Group for Mining and Construction Industries. The estimated cost of the project is about 85 million dollars, and the production capacity will reach 1.13 million tons annually. The project development work has reached… Advanced stages, and most of the equipment and machines have been installed.

Palestine Industrial Investment Company – Strengthening the industrial base through investment

The Palestine
Industrial Investment Company (PIIC) was established in 1995 to be the investment arm of PADICO Holding in the industrial and agricultural sectors. It invests in industrial projects and light, medium and heavy industries, and develops, encourages and develops local industries technically and administratively. The company’s vision and mission revolve around investing in Palestine and it seeks to achieve a set of goals, foremost of which is investing in developing existing industrial and agricultural projects in Palestine, strengthening the industrial base by investing in new projects that have not previously been invested in in Palestine, and maximizing the rights of the company’s shareholders and its subsidiary and allied companies. And creating a strong Palestinian national competitive product capable of competing with Israeli and imported goods and products.

Rabieh… Towards promoting national products.

Among the economic benefits provided by Rabieh is highlighting national products and promoting them in
the local market as an alternative to imported products. On a tour of the factory to follow up on production, Mr. Iyad Judeh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Investment Fund, confirmed: ‘Rabieh contributes to the advancement of the livestock sector, by encouraging investment in implementing new projects, in addition to providing local feed products, with high quality and competitive prices.’ .

Judeh said, ‘This national achievement that we are witnessing today, represented by the start of commercial production in the Rabieh factory, is the best example of the Fund’s strategy for impactful investment, in terms of national projects, which provide strategic goods, with a competitive quality that constitutes an alternative to the importer, and creates job opportunities, along with Along with achieving return on investment.

In order to supply the local market with feed products on a regular and sustainable basis, the Rabieh factory included 6 silos to store grains, which is considered a large storage c
apacity of 20 thousand tons of grains, as the partners in the Rabieh factory chose to bear the risks in this step in order to meet the increasing demand for feed products. .

In turn, Mr. Abdul Hakim Al-Fuqaha, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rabieh Company, and CEO of the Palestine Industrial Investment Company, stressed that the factory constitutes a major achievement that reflects the fact that the private sector in Palestine can work despite the challenges. He added, “We believe that such projects constitute important tributaries to the national economy, especially at the level of providing national goods and products capable of being qualitatively competitive at preferential prices, which contributes to raising the level of the livestock sector, which is in harmony with the goals and vision of the Palestine Industrial Investment Company.”

Modern production lines.

Al-Rabieh began its feed production at a rate of 20 tons per hour, equipped with production lines with advanced technology that operate
according to the best standards. It was designed to allow this capacity to be doubled to 40 tons per hour in later stages. Al-Rabieh has already begun cooperating with many local merchants and farmers. In order to provide them with the appropriate quantities.

During the construction stages, 20 Palestinian companies participated in implementing the factory, and Rabieh provided more than 27,800 work days, in addition to its contribution to the development of the area surrounding the factory, to strengthen the local economy of the region and advance the economic wheel there.

Disengagement from the Israeli economy

Rabieh constitutes an additional achievement on the path to disengagement from the Israeli economy, as it contributes to reducing feed imports and relying as much as possible on local products. The volume of imported fodder will begin to decline, knowing that the West Bank imports about 69% of its needs for this commodity, and the volume of production will begin to rise, as local production of fodder
currently stands at about 31%.

Source: Maan News Agency