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(Sharecast News) - West Africa-focussed agriculture company Dekel Agri-Vision said on Wednesday that the first shipment of milling equipment has left the manufacturer in Italy, Oltremare, enroute to its cashew processing project in Tiebissou, Côte d'Ivoire, via the port of Abidjan.
The AIM-traded firm said it was expected to arrive in Abidjan in about four weeks.
It said the shipment, which was the first of four due to be dispatched from Italy, consisted of 12 containers and included electrical, dryer, steam roasting and workshop equipment.
The remaining three shipments were expected to be shipped and delivered to Côte d'Ivoire in the coming months.
Dekel had previously awarded a "turnkey contract" for the engineering, manufacture, delivery, installation and commissioning of the project, as well as the training of personnel, to UK-based engineering company Overseas Projects & Services ('OPSL) - a related entity of the equipment manufacturer, Oltremare.
Under the terms of that contract, OPSL would deliver the plant, including storage and factory buildings, processing machinery and utilities once it was fully tested and commissioned, which is expected in the second quarter of 2021.
At that point, Tiebissou would become Dekel's second producing project, alongside its palm oil operation at Ayenouan.
"The departure of the first shipment of milling hardware from Italy closely follows the arrival of infrastructure equipment at Abidjan from China," said executive director Lincoln Moore.
"The development of our large-scale cashew processing project at Tiebissou is gaining momentum and remains on track to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2021.
"I look forward to providing further updates on our progress as we focus on bringing our second agriculture project in Côte d'Ivoire into production and at the same time scale up and diversify our revenues and end markets."
At 1254 BST, shares in Dekel Agri-Vision were down 3.72% at 2.07p.
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