For driving food sufficiency in Nigeria, growing to become one of the leading food and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in the country, BUA Foods Plc is the LEADERSHIP Company of the Year 2022
BUA Foods Plc has demonstrated remarkable commitment to Nigeria’s resolve to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. This has led 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 five divisions: Sugar, Flour, Pasta, Rice, and Edible Oils.
In addition, the company commenced the processing, manufacturing and distribution of rice in 2022 and is planning to begin 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 1.5million metric tons (MT) per annum.
The overall performance of the sugar segment in 2021 grew by 84.5 per cent to N209.43billion from N113.53billion reported in audited 2020 results. The 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. It also established 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 from 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 Foods Industrial Complex, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
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 any moment from now. 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. When completed, it is expected to be the biggest single-line rice mill in Nigeria, with the potential to produce quality parboiled rice. The rice mill will have a very strong identity that will be perceptible 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.
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.
In December 2021, BUA Group integrated its sugar, flour, pasta, rice and edible oil businesses into a single entity called BUA Foods and, in February 2022, listed a total of 18 billion shares on the NGX.
