Facilities

The various facilities of “Soya Mills SA” are strategically located at selected areas of Greece and the Balkans, so as to serve the domestic market, as well as countries of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The Company is headquartered in Maroussi, Athens, while its main processing unit is in Kalamaki, Corinth. In addition, the Company owns 3 units for receiving, drying and storing oilseeds, cereals, proteins and oils.

Kalamaki Unit

A mere 70 kilometres from Athens, the Kalamaki factory is located very close to Greece’s largest market. Its private port facilities are designed to accommodate large vessels (Panamax type) of dry and liquid cargo, in order to facilitate the Company’s import and export activities. In addition, Kalamaki displays large storage warehouses for oilseeds, grain, flours, and oils.

There exist two modern processing units at Kalamaki:

• Oilseed Processing Unit. Oilseeds (such as soybeans, rapeseeds, sunflower beans) are crushed to produce edible oil and protein meal. Incoming oilseeds, received by vessels, are transported to silos for storage. From there, they are forwarded to the Pre-treatment plant. The process begins by cleaning the seeds to remove impurities. Next, they are cracked and dried, before they are formed form into flakes, which are to be pressed crushed at the next stage. The cake produced is then subjected to an extraction process in order to remove any remaining oil. Before its storage, the protein meal is passed through a process of improving its nutritional value and digestibility. The other product resulting from the aforementioned treatment is crude vegetable oil.
• Crude Vegetable Oil Processing Unit. In order for crude oils to become edible, they ought to undergo a multi-stage process: Degumming, refining, bleaching and deodorization. In degumming, phosphatides (lecithin) are being removed by means of centrifugation. The refining process removes free fatty acids from the oil. Bleaching removes the pigments and various other impurities oil. Finally, the deodorization process removes volatiles through a distillation column.

Northern Greece Installations

In addition to Kalamaki, SOYA MILLS has an extensive presence in Northern Greece, namely in Thessaloniki, Serres and Kavala. These state-of-the-art facilities consist of silos for the storage of grains and oilseeds, horizontal warehouses for the storage of protein flours as well as tanks for the storage of oils. In addition, seeds may also be dried, so as to achieve their safe long-lasting storage.

The facilities of SOYA MILLS are at the heart of Greece’s rural production of cereals and oil seeds. Having developed relationships with Greek farmers since the early 1950s, the Company continues to offer solutions for the distribution of agricultural products. Through future sales, contractual farming schemes and other programmes, SOYA MILLS receives a significant volume of its raw materials at its Northern Greece facilities. Products such as sunflower, corn, wheat, and barley are some of the area’s most common crops that end up stored at the Company’s premises.