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Wilmar International Ltd, the Singapore-based food company, plans to boost its palm oil business in Nigeria wooed by policies that have helped stabilize the naira and bolstered the availability of dollars in Africa’s most populous nation.
The company, led by billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong, last week announced a plan to acquire all the shares in a palm oil venture with PZ Cussons for $70 million.
Wilmar also acquired 8,500 hectares (21,004 acres) of old rubber plantations to grow crop that will produce edible oil, according to Santosh Pillai, chief executive officer of Wilmar’s African unit.
Wilmar is growing its palm oil plantations in Nigeria’s Cross River state as it focuses on supplying the local market with the edible oil that’s used to cook everything from jollof rice to yam porridge.
Nigeria — with a population of more than 200 million — has a palm oil supply gap of 1.25 million tons annually, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
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