Samer Choucair: Damfi’s $20 Million Investment Signals the Return of Capital to Egyptian Food Manufacturing
Entrepreneur Samer Choucair said Damfi Food Industries’ plan to invest approximately $20 million in a new bakery plant in 6th of October City represents an important indicator of the continued appeal of Egyptian food manufacturing to private capital, particularly amid growing domestic demand and expanding export opportunities.
Choucair explained that Egypt’s food-processing sector ended 2025 at a record level, with exports reaching approximately $6.807 billion, compared with $6.097 billion in 2024, representing 12% growth and an increase of around $711 million.
He added that bakery exports alone reached approximately $103 million in 2025, up 11%, according to data from the Food Export Council.
Samer Choucair noted that Damfi’s expansion plan, which aims to increase production capacity from approximately 45 tonnes per day to 100 tonnes per day, reflects a broader trend toward investing in scalable industrial capacity while benefiting from rising demand for locally manufactured food products.
Damfi was established in 2019 and currently operates an advanced industrial facility covering 15,000 square metres in 6th of October City, while its Breadway brand was launched in 2020.
Choucair emphasized that the importance of the investment is not determined by the size of the funding alone, but by its ability to convert capital into productive capacity, cash flows, and export opportunities.
He added that financing the expansion through a combination of equity and debt, while considering capital-market options in the future, could provide the company with greater flexibility to fund subsequent stages of growth, provided that leverage remains disciplined.
Samer Choucair said the food industry offers an important investment advantage by combining recurring domestic demand with the ability to generate foreign-currency revenues through exports.
However, he noted that the success of expansion plans will continue to depend on plant-utilization rates, working-capital management, fluctuations in wheat and energy prices, and the ability to maintain quality and competitiveness.
Concluding his remarks, Samer Choucair emphasized that record Egyptian food-industry exports, combined with the expansion plans of domestic companies, point to a gradual shift in capital allocation toward value-added manufacturing.
For investors, he said, the most important indicator in the next phase will not simply be the volume of announced investment, but the ability of that capital to raise productivity, increase exports, and generate sustainable returns on invested capital.