Economy

Dangote Fertiliser Floods Market With Quality Urea

Published

4 years ago

07/06/2021

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

After years of waiting, Dangote Fertiliser Limited has commenced the production of urea in commercial quantity and the firm has flooded the market with the product from Monday, June 7, 2021 (today).

Business Post gathered that Nigeria needs between one million metrics to 1.5 million metric tonnes of urea to meet the local demand, with the potential to export at least 3.5 million metric tonnes of urea to different parts of the world.

The President of the Dangote Group, Mr Aliko Dangote, said the Dangote Fertiliser plant in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos would make Nigeria the biggest urea exporting country in sub-Saharan Africa and biggest producer of polypropylene and polyethylene.

Speaking recently when he received the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, and other bankers, explained that the fertiliser complex consists of ammonia and urea plants with associated facilities and infrastructure to produce 3 MMTPA of urea.

The complex comprises 2 x 2,200 MTPD ammonia plants based on Halder Topsoe technology, 2 x 4,000 MTPD melt urea plants based on Snamprogetti technology, and 2 x 4,000 MTPD urea granulation plants based on Uhde technology.

He further said “This phase one of the project, which is estimated to cost $2.5 billion, is to manufacture 3mmtpa of urea per annum.

“This capacity will later be expanded to produce multi grades of fertilisers to meet soil, crop and climate-specific requirements for the African continent.”

According to Dangote, the fertiliser plant would make Nigeria the biggest urea exporting country in sub-Saharan Africa and the biggest producer of polypropylene and polyethylene.

“The three million tonnes of urea is certified, licensed by all regulatory authorities in Nigeria. We have gotten all licenses from the National Security Adviser, the Ministry of Agriculture, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), NAFDAC and all other authorities.

“So, our urea will be in the market from Monday, and by God’s grace before the end of this month, we will start bringing in dollars from the first line that we have commissioned,” Mr Dangote said, adding that the urea is a small percentage utilisation of gas that the country is actually flaring.

He said the company planned to saturate the market with urea and having already collected the database of farmers would also ensure adequate training of farmers on the best application of urea.

“Our primary interest is to saturate the local market. Training farmers will help to sustain farming activities, and this will ensure food security,” he disclosed.

Mr Dangote praised Mr Emefiele and the banks CEOs for being there to ensure the success of the plants, adding that the time had come for the country to move away from selling crude oil to value-added petroleum products.

He urged them to target mostly gas-based industries so the country’s economy could improve and make a lot of dollars.

“We need to look at transforming the industrial capacity of the country earning dollars and at the same time doing what we call import substitution,” he said.

In his remarks, the CBN Governor said, “Nigeria needs between 1 million metrics to 1.5 million metric tonnes of Urea to meet the local demand.

“So, we have potentials to export at least three to four million metrics tonnes of urea to different parts of the world. With this latest development, Nigeria has become one of the major producers of urea in the world. This for me is a story, which no one would have believed would happen in Nigeria.”

“Nigeria now ranks amongst the leading countries in the production of Urea in the world. This, for me, is a story that no one would have believed will happen in Nigeria,” he added.

He also said that the mechanical commissioning of the Petrochemical and Refinery plant would kick off by the end of the first quarter of next year.

“Dangote has committed that mechanical completion will be achieved by the end of this year and we are expecting that the refinery will be completed by the first quarter of next year,” he added.

Speaking on behalf of the bankers, Mr Herbert Wigwe, the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, expressed joy for the support they gave to Dangote to create a world-class manufacturing enterprise in Nigeria.

“There was a lot of scepticism along the way as we moved on; can this project be completed, are we sure we have the right financing models and all of that.

“Today we saw urea produced, we saw it bagged and we saw it loaded on trucks, and by Monday it will be in our markets. This for us is a very important milestone for Nigeria and Africa,” Mr Wigwe stated.

Economy

Geo-Fluids, Afriland Properties Lift NASD Bourse by 0.13%

Published

1 day ago

11/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.

Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.

Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.

There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.

IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,543/$1 at Official Market

Published

1 day ago

11/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.

According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.

The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.

The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.

On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.

As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).

However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.

Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Customs Street Crumbles by 0.08% as Profit-Takers Take Charge

Published

1 day ago

11/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.

The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.

The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.

Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.

Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.

The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.

On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.

Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.