BUA Foods Plc, has shown its effort in the country’s resolve to achieve self-sufficiency in food production in the country. This led to the BUA Group, the parent company to list its food business on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
BUA Foods is a leading Food and Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business which processes, manufactures, and distributes food produce as well as packaged food. Its business operations comprise of five divisions, including Sugar, Flour, Pasta, Rice, and Edible Oils.
Efforts in Boosting Food Production
The Company expects to commence the processing, manufacturing, and distribution of rice in 2022 and edible oils by 2024. The Sugar segment of BUA Foods currently operates the second-largest sugar refinery in West Africa, with a total refining capacity of 1.5 million Metric Tons (MT) per annum.
The overall performance of sugar segment in 2021 grew by 84.5 per cent to N209.43 billion from N113.53 billion reported in audited 2020 results. Sugar segment contributed 62.8 per cent of the total turnover reported in 2021 as against 58.8 per cent in 2020.
The company is a leading producer of fortified and non-fortified sugar in West Africa. It operates across the value chain of the sugar industry, including the production, processing, refining, and distribution of raw sugar and its by-products such as bagasse, molasses and mud cakes.
As a response to Nigeria’s backward integration policy in the Sugar Industry, BUA Group invested in large scale estates within the country to deepen local sugar production through the acquisition of the Lafiagi Sugar Company Ltd (LASUCO) in Kwara state in 2008 and also, the establishment of the Bassa Sugar Company in Kogi State.
BUA Foods also owns a state-of-the-art flour mill in Port Harcourt with high efficiency specifications for energy saving and waste reduction. It commenced production in 2019 with a capacity of 500,000 MT per annum.
Flour is one of the staple foods contributing to the development of Nigeria and to cater for the growing flour demand in Nigeria, BUA Foods is currently expanding its milling facility by 800,000 MT per annum to 1.3 million MT per annum. The facility expansion is expected to be completed in 2022. The Flour division operates from BUA’s Foods Industrial Complex, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Due to increasing demand and the Company’s plan to expand its business beyond the North and South-South region of Nigeria, BUA Foods is in the process of constructing a second pasta plant with a capacity of 250,000 MT per annum
The combination of these two plants, upon the commencement of operation of the second plant, will yield a total capacity of 500,000 MT per annum, positioning the Company to become the second-largest pasta producer in Nigeria. In addition, the Company is aggressively developing its pasta brand and broadening its product range to satisfy varying consumer needs.
Its Rice Division has a rice milling facility in Kano with a milling capacity of 200,000 MT per annum, which will be operational in 2022. The mill is the largest in Nigeria and is currently being upgraded to a capacity of one million MT per annum, by installing new rice mill facilities in Gujungu, Jigawa State and establishing a rice mill and plantation in Agaie, Niger State.
Upon completion, it is expected to be the biggest single-line rice mill in Nigeria, with the potential to produce quality parboiled rice, with a very strong identity that will be identifiable to target customers and capable of meeting part of the domestic rice production deficit. It will leverage the existing strong BUA brand name and consumer loyalty recall.
While BUA Foods’ oil mills, located in Kano and Lagos, have a total capacity of 250,000 MT per annum and are expected to become operational in 2024. The Company plans to resuscitate its edible oil operations with the establishment of a new milling and packaging plant, with an annual capacity of 300,000 MT. Both retail and bulk customers will be targeted, with retail pack offerings ranging in size between 0.5 litres and 6.0 litres.
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