Cardinal Torch Company Limited is investing ₦4.5 billion in a soybean processing plant in Ogun State as the company expands its operations from commodity trading into agro-processing and manufacturing.
The project is expected to strengthen local value addition by processing soybeans into oil and other products for the food-processing, edible-oil and animal-feed industries, while supporting efforts to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported vegetable oils.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Cardinal Torch, Mr. David Olurin, disclosed the investment in Lagos while outlining the company’s long-term strategy to move from commodities trading into agro-processing and eventually fast-moving consumer goods manufacturing.
Olurin said the company’s objective was to reduce the export of agricultural commodities in their raw form and retain more of the economic value generated through processing within Nigeria.
“We are moving from commodities trading into agro-processing and eventually manufacturing. The objective is to ensure that we do not continue to export our agricultural commodities in their raw form while other countries capture the greater value through processing and manufacturing,” he said.
The expansion follows the successful raising of ₦10 billion under the first series of Cardinal Torch’s Commercial Paper Programme, which has an overall programme size of ₦30 billion.
Olurin said the Series 1 issuance achieved full subscription, providing the company with additional financial capacity to support its operations and expansion plans.
“Our Series 1 commercial paper was very successful. We went into the market for ₦10 billion and achieved 100 per cent success. It has given us leverage in the capital market and opened a new chapter for the company,” he said.
He added that the commercial paper had been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), describing the development as an opportunity to strengthen the company’s presence in the capital market while increasing its focus on transparency and accountability.
“This commercial paper is already listed on the NGX. We are now in the public space, and that means we have to be even more transparent and accountable as a company,” Olurin said.
The company plans to undertake additional commercial-paper issuances as it develops a roadmap for the next phase of its expansion, with access to capital expected to become increasingly important as it moves into capital-intensive processing and manufacturing operations.
According to Olurin, the soybean investment is partly driven by the gap between domestic production and consumption of vegetable oils, which presents significant opportunities for local processing and import substitution.
“The soybean opportunity is enormous because there is a significant gap between what we produce and what we consume. We want to take advantage of that deficit by processing soybean locally into oil and other products rather than trading only in the raw commodity,” he said.
Cardinal Torch is also completing a 10-tonne-per-day cashew processing plant in Ogun State, which will process raw cashew nuts into semi-processed kernels and ready-to-eat products.
Olurin said the project forms part of the company’s broader strategy to increase domestic processing, create jobs and develop agricultural products capable of competing in international markets.
“Nigeria produces significant quantities of agricultural commodities, but we still lose a large part of the value because most of these commodities leave the country in their raw form. Our strategy is to process them here, create jobs here and build products that can compete in international markets,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria produces between 280,000 and 300,000 tonnes of cashew annually, with more than 80 per cent reportedly exported to countries such as India and Vietnam for processing.
“Those countries take our raw materials, process them and capture the greater value. We want to change that narrative by bringing processing into Nigeria,” Olurin added.
Beyond soybean and cashew, Cardinal Torch is planning investments in cocoa processing, with proposed production lines for cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder, before eventually expanding into chocolate production.
The company is also targeting the fast-moving consumer goods market, with plans to venture into the production of pasta, spaghetti, noodles, flour, milled grains and beverages as part of its wider manufacturing expansion.
The investments are expected to deepen Nigeria’s agro-processing capacity, create employment opportunities, support local industries and increase the value retained from agricultural commodities within the country.
