MERRIAM, KAS. — Seaboard Overseas and Trading Group, Merriam, has completed a lease transaction under which the company has acquired control of a flour mill and feed manufacturing facility in Tema, Ghana.

The facility is part of Ghana-Agro Food Complex Ltd. (Gafco), owned by partnership of the Ghana government, an institutional local investment group and Industrie-Bau Nord Group (I.B.N.), a global operating company based in Germany and Switzerland.

The Gafco flour mill has daily milling capacity of about 3,300 cwts. Seaboard estimated the entire flour and feed capacity at 100,000 tonnes annually and said the complex was designed in a way that will allow cost effective installation of additional capacity.

Gafco said the Buhler equipped mill packages multiple types of flour (bread, biscuit and specialty local flour).

The feed mill has an hourly capacity of 7 tonnes, has pelleting capacity and can produce feeds for broilers, pigs, goats, horses and fish.

“This transaction enhances Seaboard’s integrated grain trading and industrial processing model by adding additional logistical capabilities to its West Africa based businesses,” Seaboard said.

Seaboard Overseas, part of Seaboard Corp., currently has investments in wheat milling and related processing industries in 14 African countries, which is more than any other grain processor on the continent, the company said.

“The transaction was a unique opportunity to enter in the Ghana market, one of the fastest growing countries in all Africa,” Seaboard said.

The company said it will operate the Gafco mill and continue offering the company’s product line under its existing brands, Sankofa and Tradition.

“Also, taking advantage of the position next to the Port of Tema, Flour Mills of Ghana intends to distribute other commodities and specialty products while also pursuing other investment opportunities in related industries, similar as to what has Seaboard done throughout Africa,” the company said.

Ghana is situated in West Africa between Ivory Coast and Togo. In West Africa, Seaboard operates flour mills in Nigeria and Liberia. Its other Africa milling locations include Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo.

A nation of 25 million, Ghana’s per capita income was $1,230 in 2010, according to the World Bank.