We leverage our expertise and experience in sourcing, distribution, and logistics to offer our customers world-class services and goods.
Over the years, EDC SA has established itself as a trusted partner for trading in niche markets, earning the confidence of both producers and customers alike.
Our business is run with Swiss precision and care.
With a strong network and relationships with governmental and private consumers across North Africa, we are well-positioned to meet the needs of our customers in the region.
Libya, a mostly desert and oil-rich country with an ancient history, has more recently been known for
the 42-year rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi - and the chaos that followed his departure.
The toppling of the long-term leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 led to a power vacuum and
instability, with no authority in full control. The months that followed drew the nation’s descend into
chaos, a no-fly zone and a naval blockade meant that the import dependant country is starting to
suffer shortages of basic necessities, including food staples such as wheat flour, pasta and
vegetables.
The number of commodity suppliers willing to take the risk involved in supplying the war-stricken
country with cargos loaded on bulk carrying vessels or container ships was getting extremely limited
and would not exceed a handful. Flours mills and animal feed factories we shut down due to
frequent power shortages and the imminent exodus of foreign workers.
The only means to feed the population has become by importing processed food essentials such as
wheat flour, pasta and tomato paste. The Price Stability Fund (PSF), a governmental body responsible
for keeping the price of food essentials at an affordable price for most citizens, has been tasked by
the government to float tenders to secure these essentials for the whole country, east ad west,
including the regions that have fallen out of the regime control.
The number of participants was less than a dozen, however, the ones that were able to perform was substantially
smaller. Evaluating the reliability of the offers and their performance was key to ensure that the
country does not fall into further chaos because of famine. PSF therefore announced that it would
only grant contracts to companies that show actual performance proof by physically delivering one
cargo to a safe Libyan port before receiving payment for the goods. That was a prohibitive factor for
most of the tender participants.
Having intricate relations with Libya through previous trade history and the background of its
founders, EDC decided to take the daring step and deliver the first wheat flour vessel (MV Little
Donna) to Benghazi port, the city that sparked the February revolution in the country. This action
was appreciated by both the citizens of Benghazi and the PSF and was the first contract to supply
wheat flour to the entire country during 2011. The Swiss trading house EDC went on to deliver
consecutive wheat flour shipments to all Libyan ports throughout the year of conflict. Statistics later
showed that more than 70% of bread-making flour was supplied by EDC that year.
Post-Gaddafi political limbo and the socioeconomic turmoil it caused escalated to the second Libyan
civil war in 2014 and to the attack on Tripoli in 2016 and until today the country is in permacrisis.
During all this period EDC has proven resilient and adaptive to the countless economical, legal and
administrative changes that were produced by the numerous governments taking power. The size
and structure of the company, the adaptability of its team members and maintaining close relations
with customers have contributed to increasing the company’s market share and in recent years have
allowed EDC to cement its place as the number one supplier of grains to Libya.