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

Afriland Properties Lifts NASD OTC Securities Exchange by 0.04%

Published

3 hours ago

11/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Afriland Properties Plc helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange record a 0.04 per cent gain on Tuesday, December 10 as the share price of the property investment rose by 34 Kobo to N16.94 per unit from the preceding day’s N16.60 per unit.

As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse went up by N380 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.056 trillion like the previous trading day.

But the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher at 3,014.36 points after it recorded an addition of 1.09 points to Monday’s closing value of 3,013.27 points.

The NASD OTC securities exchange recorded a price loser and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which went down by 2 Kobo to close at N3.93 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N3.95 per share.

During the trading session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 95.8 per cent to 2.4 million units from the 1.2 million securities traded in the preceding session.

However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 3.7 per cent to N4.9 million from the N5.07 million recorded a day earlier, as the number of deals surged by 27.3 per cent to 14 deals from 11 deals.

Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.

Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Trades N1,542/$1 as FX Speculators Dump Dollars in Panic

Published

3 hours ago

11/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira continued to appreciate on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), gaining 0.7 per cent or N10.23 on Tuesday, December 10 to trade at N1,542.27/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,552.50/$1.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform introduced to tackle speculation and improve transparency in Nigeria’s FX market has been attributed as the source of the Naira’s appreciation.

Speculators holding foreign currencies, particularly the US Dollar, have seen the value of their money drastically drop due to the appreciation of the local currency. This is forcing them to dump greenback into the system and take the domestic currency alternative- a move that has seen available FX increase.

Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N6.81 to sell for N1,955.12/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,961.93/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N10.84 to close at N1,613.00/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,623.84/€1.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of forex transactions significantly increased yesterday by $228.85 million or 257.2 per cent to $401.17 million from the preceding session’s $112.32 million.

However, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the US Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to settle at N1,625/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,620/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 4.8 per cent to sell at $0.39116, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 3.3 per cent to trade at $110.25, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.3 per cent to $681.44, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.6 per cent to finish at $3,671.08, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 0.5 per cent to $0.8837

Conversely, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 5.4 per cent to $2.23 amid a continued shift for the coin with its parent company seeing the benefits of a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for US-based companies.

XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs, a high-profile payments company targeted by the SEC in 2020 on allegations of selling the token as a security to U.S. investors. Ripple fully cleared a long-drawn court case in 2024.

Further, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $219.75, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.4 per cent to $97,446.95, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Chinese Demand, Europe, Syria Development Buoy Oil Prices

Published

4 hours ago

11/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, influenced by increasing demand in China, the world’s largest buyer, as well as developments in Europe and Syria, with Brent crude futures closing at $72.19 per barrel after chalking up 5 cents or 0.07 per cent while the US West Texas Intermediate finished at $68.59 a barrel after it gained 22 cents or 0.32 per cent.

China will adopt an “appropriately loose” monetary policy in 2025 as the world’s largest oil importer tries to spur economic growth. This would be the first easing of its stance in 14 years.

Chinese crude imports also grew annually for the first time in seven months, jumping in November on a year-on-year basis.

Speculation about winter demand in Europe also contributed to the rise in prices as the period has been known for high demand.

In Syria, rebels were working to form a government and restore order after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, with the country’s banks and oil sector set to resume work on Tuesday.

Although Syria itself is not a major oil producer, it is strategically located and has strong ties with Russia and Iran – two of the world’s largest oil producers.

Market analysts noted that the tensions in the Middle East seem contained, which led market participants to price for potentially low risks of a wider regional spillover leading to significant oil supply disruption.

The market is also looking forward to the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to make a 25 basis point cut to interest rates at the end of its December 17-18 meeting.

This move could improve oil demand in the world’s biggest economy, though traders are waiting to see if this week’s inflation data derails the cut.

Crude oil inventories in the US rose by 499,000 barrels for the week ending November 29, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a draw of 1.30 million barrels.

For the week prior, the API reported a 1.232-million barrel build in crude inventories.

So far this year, crude oil inventories have fallen by roughly 3.4 million barrels since the beginning of the year, according to API data.

Official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Wednesday.

Also, the market is getting relief from the recent decision of selected members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ to delay the rollback of 2.2 million barrels per day of oil production cuts to April from January. Another 3.6 million barrels per day in output reductions across the OPEC+ group has been extended to the end of 2026 from the end of 2025.