Cardinal Torch Company Limited is investing ₦4.5 billion in a soybean processing plant in Ogun State as part of its strategy to move beyond commodity trading and establish a stronger presence in agro-processing and manufacturing.
The investment is expected to boost local value addition by processing soybeans into edible oil and other products for the food-processing, vegetable-oil and animal-feed industries. The initiative is also aimed at reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported vegetable oils while creating additional economic opportunities within the agricultural value chain.
The company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, David Olurin, disclosed the investment in Lagos while outlining Cardinal Torch’s long-term expansion strategy.
Olurin said the company intends to shift away from exporting agricultural commodities in their raw form and instead process more of them locally to retain greater economic value 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.
₦10bn Commercial Paper Raises Expansion Capacity
The expansion comes after Cardinal Torch successfully raised ₦10 billion through the first series of its Commercial Paper Programme, which has an overall programme size of ₦30 billion.
According to Olurin, the Series 1 issuance was fully subscribed, providing the company with additional funding capacity to strengthen its operations and finance its 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 said the commercial paper has also been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), describing the development as an important step in strengthening the company’s position in the capital market.
Olurin added that being in the public market would require the company to maintain higher standards of 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,” he said.
The company plans to undertake additional commercial-paper issuances as it progresses with its expansion strategy, with access to capital expected to become increasingly important as it moves into more capital-intensive processing and manufacturing operations.
Soybean Processing Targets Import Substitution
Olurin said the soybean investment was partly driven by the significant gap between domestic production and consumption of vegetable oils, which he identified as an opportunity 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.
The company’s soybean investment forms part of a broader agro-processing expansion programme in Ogun State.
Cardinal Torch is also completing a 10-tonne-per-day cashew processing plant in the state. The facility will process raw cashew nuts into semi-processed kernels and ready-to-eat products.
According to Olurin, the cashew project reflects the company’s objective of increasing domestic processing, creating employment opportunities and developing Nigerian 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.
Company Targets Cashew Value Chain
Olurin noted that Nigeria produces between 280,000 and 300,000 tonnes of cashew annually, with more than 80 per cent reportedly exported to countries including 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,” he added.
Beyond soybean and cashew, Cardinal Torch is preparing to expand into cocoa processing, with plans to produce cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder before eventually moving into chocolate manufacturing.
The company is also targeting the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market, with proposed investments in the production of pasta, spaghetti, noodles, flour, milled grains and beverages.
The expansion strategy underscores Cardinal Torch’s ambition to build an integrated agricultural processing and manufacturing business while supporting greater domestic value addition across Nigeria’s agricultural value chains.
