Nigeria plans to increase its palm oil production by 700% over the next eight years to improve its foreign exchange earnings, the report said. Bloomberg on June 14th.
The new policy will increase local production to about 5 million tonnes/year from the current 600,000 tonnes/year by investing up to 180 billion naira (US $ 500 million), starting this year, the Ministry of Trade and Investment said.
“Our policy objectives over an eight-year period (between 2019 and 2027) will locally produce 100% of local palm oil demand by 2027, increase revenue from duty-free imports and deliver 225,000 full-time jobs and at least 450,000 jobs.”
Bloomberg said the new policy will remove the 75% discount on refined palm oil imports and extend the current tax holiday from three years to five years for all production and processing companies.
It would also introduce a five-year restriction on imports of crude and refined palm oil for large-scale refiners and crushing plant owners.
Farmers would have access to loans at 9% per year to expand cultivation by at least 3 million hectares.
Presco Plc, the country's largest palm oil producer, was pushing an expansion plan that would see a 500-tonne refinery begin operating in the first quarter of 2020, with a further increase from 60 tonnes/hour to 90 tonnes/hour . next January, the Bloomberg he wrote.
Felix Nwabuko, CEO of Prescott Plc, the country's largest palm oil producer, told investors that the company was expanding and expected a 500 tonne/hour refinery to begin operating in the first quarter of 2020, and its crushing capacity increase from 60 tons/hour to 90 tons/year by next January.
Nigeria's palm oil imports rose from 302,000 tonnes in 2017 to 600,000 tonnes at the end of 2018, costing the country about US$$500 million, Bloomberg wrote.
The country was the world's fifth largest producer of palm oil, although it represented less than 2% of global production, behind only the giants of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Post: Marina Carvejani
Author: OFI Magazine
Source: OFI Magazine
