By Cynthia Alo

AN indigenous agribusiness firm, Cardinal Torch Company Limited, has injected $4.5 million on cashew processing in Ogun State.

The company’s investment in cashew processing is part of its objective to boost operations in value-addition, agro-processing, and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), following a successful N10 billion Series 1 Commercial Paper issuance.

Meanwhile, the investment drive forms part of the company’s broader N30 billion capital raise initiative aimed at constructing and commissioning four processing facilities in Ogun and Lagos States respectively to boost local manufacturing and strengthen Nigeria’s non-oil export capacity.

Since 2020, the company had traded in cocoa, cashew, sesame and soybean, now investing in processing facilities for cashew, soybean and cocoa, with plans to expand into FMCG.

Meanwhile, speaking at a media interactive session in Lagos, Cardinal Torch Company’s
Chief Executive Officer, Mr David Olurin, explained that the shift from raw commodity trading to processing is designed to build a sustainable legacy ahead of the company’s planned public listing.

He said the facility sits along a functional natural gas pipeline corridor, backed by solar arrays, industrial grid allocations and heavy-duty generators.

He said: “If anyone says they started thinking about solving their power problems after building a factory, then they made a mistake from the beginning.

“Commercially, we are an export company. We create our market outside Nigeria on a contract basis with financial instruments committed. All our plants will ensure that we out-sell what we produce two years ahead.

“Listing on the exchange is for legacy. That’s why every company that survives after the visionaries becomes a public company. What we are creating is a legacy organisation that will live after so many of us.”

According to him, the company’s flagship investment is working to install a cashew processing plant in Ogun State, with capacity to process 10 tonnes of raw cashew nuts daily and about 600 metric tonnes of semi-processed cashew kernels annually.

He also stated that the company’s investment in the plant runs into over $4.5 million including land and equipment, which he disclosed that 2027 is scheduled as the year of operations of the plant.

However, he pointed out that regulation in the sector demands a formidable commodities board as it is in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon as models.

“We need to create an efficient Commodities Board across all commodities, with powers to monitor and dictate how the industry should work”, he said.

Also, the company’s Chief Technical Officer, Emmanuel Mshelia, asserted that Nigeria produces between 280,000 and 350,000 tonnes of cashew annually, with more than 80 per cent exported to India and Vietnam for processing.

According to Mshelia, the plant will process raw cashew nuts into white kernels and roasted, flavoured cashews for both domestic and export markets.

“Nigeria is one of the four major exporters of cashew nuts, but we don’t get the entire value because a huge chunk of what we produce locally goes to India or Vietnam.

“From just the raw material to the finished products, you can have increased monetary value to as high as 200 per cent. That shows what we have been missing when we just export these commodities in their raw and natural state”, he said.

Meanwhile, to deepen processing and promote value addition, the company’s management revealed that it is constructing a 250-tonne-per-day soybean extraction plant and refinery.

When completed the plant will generate revenue of about $58 million in annual alongside a 40-tonne-per-day cocoa processing plant and facilities at the Lagos Free Trade Zone for pasta, noodles, flour and beverages.

However, the Head of Business Development and Commercial of the company, Ndutimobong Sunday, pointed out current challenges facing the processors including high interest rates hovering between 27 and 36 per cent, along with power and logistics costs as they impede processors’ competitiveness.

“You are buying commodities in Nigeria at the same price somebody in Vietnam is buying, but after processing, you realise you are barely competing because your costs are higher, and at the end of the day, these challenges affect competitiveness”, Sunday added.

Executive Director, Operations and Logistics, Bamitale Akindele, described the company as fundamentally a supply chain organisation, crediting aggregators, warehouse and logistics staff for its growth over six years, and according to Akindele, all plants are being built to BRCGS and ISO standards.