Dika Morocco Africa

CITIC Dicastal's Moroccan wheel plant: aluminium alloy road wheels from Kenitra's Atlantic Free Zone

Updated Sep 2026

Dika Morocco Africa S.A. (DMA) is the Moroccan manufacturing subsidiary of CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd, the Chinese group that has led global aluminium alloy wheel sales for fifteen consecutive years and runs 25 plants across China, North America, Europe and Africa. Its base sits in the Atlantic Free Zone at Kenitra (commune of Ameur Seflia), where two aluminium wheel plants opened in 2019 and 2020 under a protocol signed in December 2017 for roughly EUR 350 million and 1,200 jobs; by late 2023 they were running at capacity at about 6 million wheels a year with some 1,400 workers. A third unit, DIKA Morocco Castings (DMC), was inaugurated in November 2023 to cast aluminium powertrain and chassis components, and in January 2025 the World Economic Forum named the Morocco base Africa's first Lighthouse Factory. Exports move by sea from Tangier: US customs records show 158 ocean shipments of aluminium auto wheels in 2026 into Savannah, Newark, Norfolk and Charleston, almost all consigned to the group's own North American logistics arm. The EU has since imposed a 31.4% definitive countervailing duty on DMA's wheels, and a fourth Kenitra plant was cancelled in March 2025 in favour of a project in Portugal.

Business type

Manufacturer — cast aluminium alloy road wheels for motor vehicles (HS 870870 / CN 8708 70), plus aluminium castings for powertrain and chassis through sister unit DIKA Morocco Castings^1,2,5

Legal name

Dika Morocco Africa S.A. (earlier EU proceedings record it as Dika Morocco Africa S.A.R.L); no Arabic-script legal name published — the parent trades as 中信戴卡股份有限公司^2,3,9

Parent group

Subsidiary of CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd, Qinhuangdao, Hebei, China; the EU records the 'Dicastal group' around DMA as DIKA Morocco Castings, Changsha Dicastal Technology, Dicastal (Asia) Investment Holdings and CITIC Dicastal (Hong Kong) Investment Holdings^2,4

Plant location

Atlantic Free Zone, Kenitra (commune of Ameur Seflia), Morocco — a 380-mu site holding two aluminium wheel plants and one aluminium castings plant, described as China's largest single direct investment in Morocco^2,9

Scale and capacity

Two wheel plants launched 2019 and 2020, running at full capacity by Nov 2023 at 6 million rims a year with about 1,400 workers; the first plant was built in eight months^4,5

Investment history

Protocol signed December 2017 before King Mohammed VI covering roughly EUR 350 million and 1,200 jobs; a further ~14 ha extension in the Atlantic Free Zone was signed with MEDZ on 15 October 2020, adding mould manufacture and maintenance⁴

Third plant (DMC)

DIKA Morocco Castings inaugurated November 2023 — 20,000 m², EUR 180 million in two phases, 5 million parts a year, 90% for export to Europe and the US, 1,000 planned direct jobs⁵

Recognition

CITIC Dicastal's Morocco plant was named a World Economic Forum Lighthouse Factory in January 2025, the first on the African continent^9,10

EU trade measures

Subject to a 31.4% definitive EU countervailing duty on aluminium road wheels (Reg. (EU) 2025/500, TARIC additional code C897) after an earlier definitive anti-dumping duty in Reg. (EU) 2023/99, where the residual rate was applied to Dika^2,3

Consequence of the EU duties

A planned fourth Kenitra plant was cancelled in March 2025 in favour of an investment under way in Portugal, per Morocco's Ministry of Industry and Trade⁷

US trade lane

158 US ocean shipments Jan 2 – Aug 19, 2026 under HS 870870; laded 152x Tangier and 6x Algeciras (Spanish transhipment); discharged Savannah 75, Newark 52, Norfolk 25, Charleston 6¹

Country on file

Morocco is correct and not a filing artifact — manufacturing is in Kenitra and Tanger Med is the export gateway; only the Algeciras ladings are a transhipment leg^1,2,9

Free-zone status

Operates inside a Moroccan economic (free) zone; the EU found DMA's Moroccan sales were made between economic zones, with goods never entering Moroccan customs territory³

Customers

DLG International, Inc. (dba Dicastal Logistics Group), Hollingsworth LLC^1,6,8

Key people

Badr Lahmoudi, Directeur Général of Dika Morocco Africa (2020); described as Deputy Managing Director of Dicastal Morocco Africa at the; Zhu Zhihua, President, CITIC Dicastal (parent group) — attended the DMC plant launch in Kenitra^4,5

Best suited for: Buyers of OEM-grade cast aluminium alloy road wheels and aluminium powertrain/chassis castings who want a Europe- and US-facing plant outside China, with sea freight out of Tanger Med. Note the 31.4% EU countervailing duty on this producer's wheels when landing cargo in the Union.

Researched profile of Dika Morocco Africa, 2 Sept 2026, from 10 sources. Shipment figures elsewhere on this page are from US customs records, not from these sources.