MULTI-TREX Investment of Nigeria will invest US$30 million to set up a cocoa processing plant in Luwingu in Northern Province and create 1,500 jobs for the local people. Multi-Trex Investment is one of the largest and most modern cocoa processing companies in Nigeria with an installed annual processing capacity of 15,000 tonnes per annum.
Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati said the Multi-trex plant in Zambia would be the first ever largest cocoa processing company to be established in Northern Province. The 1,500 jobs would be created under phase one of the project.
The factory would be processing cocoa beans into cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder for the local and international market.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Mutati said the new capital injection would increase foreign exchange input to the country’s overall Foreign Exchange Earnings and enable it go downstream into the manufacturing and marketing of such fast moving cocoa based consumer products like beverage drinks, chocolate and bakery products.
“We need to start taking agricultural industries to rural areas if we have to tackle rural poverty which is currently exceeding 70 per cent,” Mr Mutati said.
The proceeds of its six billion Naira Private Placement, concluded mid 2008, are currently being deployed to the acquisition and installation of additional plants, machinery and equipment aimed at further upgrading its current processing capacity from 15,000MT to 30.000MT per annum.
The new installation of a second factory, with a 50,000MT installed capacity, is expected to raise total installed capacity to 80,000 MT. This feat would rank the Multi-trex plant as the biggest and certainly the most modern cocoa processing factory in Africa.
The upgrade has since been completed in the first quarter of 2010. The company’s current export turnover was in excess of $15million and this was expected to improve tremendously at the completion of the ongoing upgrading exercise.
The firm was located in Warewa Village, Ogun state of Nigeria, along the strategic Lagos/Ibadan express road, which afforded it easy access to the sources of its cocoa beans needs and to the sea ports.
NEXIM’s support to Multi-Trex is through the acquisition of its two processing plants and the provision of Stocking Facility under its Direct Lending Facility to the tune of N1.1billion as well as various inter-bank Rediscounting and Refinancing Facilities.
Multi-Trex was incorporated as a limited liability company on November 30, 1999 setting up a 50 hectare cocoa plantation and commenced commercial operations in September 2001 as a cocoa beans trader both for the Nigerian and international markets.
It established its own cocoa processing plant early in 2005. The factory, which processes cocoa beans into cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder for the local and international markets, was officially commissioned on Wednesday February 1, 2006 by the then president of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 2008, after two years of successful operation and sensing the need for more funds to expand its processing capacity, in order to fully satisfy its international buyers, the company went public through the floating of 2 billion ordinary shares of its equity to private investors to raise N6billion for the acquisition of more plants and machinery.
The floatation was highly successful. Multi-Trex Investments, one of Nigeria’s leading cocoa processing and export oriented companies, is set to raise N6billion in fresh equity from private investors to profit from international market demand for cocoa butter.
[Times of Zambia]