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China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
Image from Moroccoworldnews
Chinese Citic Dicastal Group has launched construction on its third aluminum manufacturing unit in the Atlantic Free Zone of Kenitra (AFZ) with a budget of MAD 1.8 billion ($192 million).
Citic Dicastal is a Chinese equipment manufacturer specializing in the casting and production of aluminum automotive parts, including rims, powertrains, and chassis. The company has two operating aluminum manufacturing plants in Kenitra. The units were opened on June 26, 2019 and December 20, 2020.
The Chinese Group kicked off the construction of its new industrial unit named "Dika Morocco Castings - DMC” in the presence of Morocco’s Minister of Industry and Commerce Ryad Mezzour, Governor of Kenitra Fouad M'Hamdi. The Moroccan officials were joined by Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Morocco Li Changlin, and Vice-President and General Manager of Dicastal Morocco Africa Badr Lahmoudi, the Ministry of Industry reported in a press release.
Dika Morocco Castings is set to open in six months and provide job opportunities to 766 people.
Powered by green energy, DMC will have a production capacity of 10 million units per year as it provides Morocco “with its first production plant for cast aluminum components for [vehicles’] powertrains and chassis,” the statement added.
The large-scale project resulted from a videoconference between Citic Dicastal’s Vice-President Xu Zuo and Minister of Industry Ryad Mezzour. The two parties concluded the meeting by signing an agreement on the DMC.
“The partnership that binds us to the Dicastal group is a real success" commented Ryad Mezzour on the occasion, adding that his ministry will provide “strong and unwavering support for investments that create jobs and value, for a more competitive and efficient national automotive industry.”
For his part, Badr Lahmoudi recalled that the project comes in “a period of fragile and unstable global economic recovery.” He stressed that the “Citic Dicastal group wants to be optimistic by taking this courageous and ambitious decision to reinvest in Morocco, again attesting that our country enjoys an economic climate of confidence, a geostrategic situation, good infrastructures, and a quality human capital.”
Globally, Citic Dicastal employs 17,000 people across 26 production units in Europe, North America, and China.
With an annual production capacity of 70 million rims and 90,000 tonnes of lightweight components, the group supplies major car manufacturers such as GM, Toyota, Renault, Stellantis, Volkswagen, BMW, and Audi.
In Morocco, the Chinese group has created 1,200 jobs in two factories with a current total annual production capacity of 6 million rims.
The Citic Dicastal-Morocco partnership serves as a symbol to Sino-Moroccan economic and diplomatic relations. The cooperation fits neatly into China’s global development Belt and Road strategy. The plan promotes massive Chinese infrastructure investments across the world.
Morocco’s participation in China’s Belt and Road initiative was welcomed by Ning Jizhe, vice-chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). He highlighted the vast economic exchange between the two nations at the signing of the Morocco-China implementation plan for the Belt and Road initiative in January.
“Currently, the direct investment from China to Morocco reaches 380 million USD. Most goes into infrastructure, mobile parts, telecommunication, and fishery,” said Ning Jizhe, adding that the bilateral relations in 2020 “reached 4.76 billion USD with a 2% increase compared with last year, even with COVID-19 Pandemic and a recession in international trade.”
