New York – American aerospace giant Hexcel is the latest business aviation company to launch a new plant in Morocco.
U.S. Hexcel group directors and Morocco’s Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment, and the Digital Economy will reportedly meet in Morocco to sign the official agreement for the establishment of the factory on Tuesday.
“The signing between the company and the Ministry of Industry will take place on January 19,” a source familiar with the agreement revealed according to Telquel news website.
According to the same source, Hexcel will be based in the industrial Midparc Casablanca Free Zone and will employ “no less than 250 people” at the time of its launch.
The new Hexcel plant in Casablanca will reportedly invest € 20 million for its initial phase.
Hexcel joins the more than 110 multinational companies that have opened their doors in Morocco, relying on the country’s taxation incentives, attractive subsidies and its geographical location – proximity to Europe and crossroads from America.
The surge of the aviation industry in Morocco achieved US $605 million in exports in 2015 and registered a growth of 5.1 percent. 2016 already looks promising with the launch of French giant Thales and U.S. Hexcel.
Hexcel, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is a world leader in the carbon fiber field and composites for commercial and military aircraft. It employs over 5,300 people in nearly 24 production sites worldwide.
The American giant is also a specialist in lightweight engineered core parts, HexMC® components and complete structures.
According to the same source, Hexcel’s turnover for 2014 was $1.86 billion.
Morocco attracts large aeronautical investors from Europe and North America. Hexcel will join the other two American investors in Midparc – ALCOA and EATON.
Midparc is an extension to the Casablanca aviation industries zone (Aéropole), an industrial zone in Morocco hosting several international companies such as Boeing, Dassault Aviation, EADS Aviation, Ratier Figeac, and Safran, among others.
The Free Trade Agreement with the United States (Morocco’s 6th largest trade partner) is part of the overall strategy of the Moroccan economy that makes it ideal for American companies to establish secondary factories in the North African country.
