Constrained by Scarce FX, Agro-allied Firm Resorts to Backward Integration

James Emejo in Abuja

Amidst the current challenges of foreign exchange accessibility as well as the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, PET Agro Limited, said it has resolved to embrace backward integration which is more beneficial to both the company and the Nigerian economy in general.

It said it also planned to fully set up a local vegetable oil plant to be sited in the oil palm and cashew producing areas in Kogi State by 2023.

The Managing Director, PET Agro Limited, Ms. Rehab Danladi, told THISDAY in an interview that 80 per cent of the refined products will be for export and 20 per cent for the local market.

She said the firm was already in talks with the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) to help facilitate the former’s exports adding that discussions were also ongoing with the Bank of Industry (BoI) towards the setting up of the proposed factory.

Danladi explained that the backward integration efforts will not only position the company to compete favourably with products being imported into the country in terms of quality and pricing but also help the country generate the much-needed foreign exchange.

She said, “We were importing before the outbreak of COVID-19, then the problem came of the dollar between the CBN rate and the black market and availability was a problem. So I felt there was a need for us to go to backward integration. Enough is enough for imports into Nigeria and foreign exchange going out.

“So let’s now produce in Nigeria, promote Nigeria and earn the foreign exchange into Nigeria and that has been my focus. We started on a good note but COVID-19 came and messed up everything both in India and Nigeria.

“India just opened March this year after so many months of break. And the good thing is that the waste of these processed products can be converted to poultry feeds and nothing is wasted; and the kernel for soap making. Small industries can also come out from the residue of those processed seeds.”

She also said that the firm had received necessary certifications from NAFDAC to commence local manufacturing of vegetable oils mainly for exports.

He said, “The next thing now is to site the factory and then make use of Nigerian produced 100 per cent – palm kernel, cashew nuts, and soya beans – to convert them from seeds to oils.

“At the moment, the seeds go out from here, processed out, and come back again here. So I will process it here and send it out directly and I get a lot of value for it- India is number one as far as the purchase of raw seeds is concerned.”