Announcement of IFC Loan for Bolivian Project Flour Mill to Use High Protein Grain on January 12, 1978

D~@ I nternatiorzal Finance Corporation 181 a H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. 202-477-123~ IFC Press Release No. 78/15 Thursday, January 12, 1978 IFC Loan for Bo+ivian Project Flour Mill to Use High~Protein Grain The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is lending $2.3 million for a new flour milling project in Bolivia that will help meet the country's food needs and introduce the large-scale use of a high-protein domestic grain quinoa -- in the production of flour. The IFC loan is being made to Molino Andino S.R.L., a new private sector company that will build and operate a $7.9 million flour mill. The mill will process 72,000 metric tons of grain annually and produce 52,000 tons of flour for sale in Bolivia and 19,000 tons of bran and shorts, partly • for export. Ferrari, Ghezzi & Cia., a leading Bolivian producer of wheat flour, cookies and pastas, is the principal sponsor and invested approximately $1 million in Molino Andino's equity; a number of B?livian investors, $2 mi~lion. IFC's loan, a $1.5 million loan from Banco Industrial S.A., an approxi- mately $500,000 First Natipnal City Bank - La Paz loan, and about $560,000 in suppliers' credits complete the financing. Molino Andino will use up to 20 per cent of quinoa, a native grain that has about twice the protein content of wheat and is fully resistant to the severe climatic conditions of Bolivia's Altiplano. Ferrari, Ghezzi & Cia., an active advocate of the use of quinoa, has developed a method to process the cereal for blending with wheat without noticeable change in taste or baking qualities of the flour. It has been milling quinoa at its Oruro facilities on a small scale for several years and utilizing the flour in its products. No lino Andino' s output will reduce Bolivia's reliance on grain and flour imports which now supply more than half the country's needs. The project will •  - 2 - result in estimated foreign exchange savings of $2 million annually at full pfoduc tion. Various sections of the mill have been designed to use more labor intensive technology despite the availability 0£ highly automated, capital- intensive systems. Molino Andino will create about 100 direct jobs and an additional 75 subcontracted jobs in truck transportation and bag making. It will also generate an estimated .2,000 jobs in. wheat and quinoa cultivation, which the Company intends to encourage through a crop improvement program. •• (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project should be directed to the IFC Information Office, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20433, Telephone (202) ~77-5340.) ••