Valency Agro Nigeria Ltd, the third-largest non-oil exporter in Nigeria, has announced plans to enhance its operations by commissioning a state-of-the-art supply chain complex in Ibadan, Oyo State.
This development follows an equity acquisition in its parent company, Valency International Group, by British International Investment (BII), a Development Finance Institute and impact investment organization owned by the UK government.
British International Investment injected an initial $15 million into Valency International Group, a Singaporean-based agricultural commodities trading house, with an option to invest an additional $35 million within two years of the initial investment.
As a subsidiary of Valency International, Valency Agro Nigeria Ltd is poised to expand its operations, construct more warehousing facilities, and enhance the processing of raw cashew nuts into high-quality cashew kernels for export.
Additionally, the investment aims to bolster the company’s ability to address sustainability concerns within its operations and value chain, particularly focusing on social and environmental considerations.
The newly commissioned supply chain complex will serve as a critical support system for sourcing raw agricultural materials from farm gate suppliers, processing these materials into premium-grade products, and distributing them to wholesale and retail outlets as well as end-users. This strategic initiative underscores Valency Agro Nigeria Ltd’s commitment to advancing its operations and maintaining high standards across its value chain.
Speaking about the complex, the CEO of Valency Agro Nig. Ltd., Mr. Sumit Jain, said that “Valency is an integrated supply chain company that exports and trades in diversified portfolio of agro commodities and inputs, boasting of assets that include an already established extensive global reach, excellent sourcing networks directly with farm gate suppliers and manufacturing processors, a deep origination network across the country in all major producing states for raw cashew, sesame, soybean, cocoa, ginger, and pulses.”
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Food security is a real challenge and due to lack of storage capacities, quality management infrastructure and cost of local transport at Nigeria we lose more than 15-17 per cent of crop. Through our group’s subsidiary name GSCS (Global Supply Chain Solutions) valency is planning to work on all three aspects of food security- Warehousing and quality management Services, fleet services, and clearing and forwarding services. We at valency are quite happy to see supply chain complex coming for the final commissioning in the next week.”.
He said the company did a groundbreaking in May 2022 and with over 45,000 MT storage capacity of agri produce, over 150 own fleet and one of the biggest drying yards in the country.
According to a statement by the British International Investment on its website, the investment will support value addition, create up to 2,800 jobs for low-income workers across the country and provide market access indirectly to a further 60,000 smallholder farmers and boost agricultural output and export.
Benson Adenugu, the Head of Office and Coverage Director, Nigeria for BII, said that “the strategic opportunity to catalyze growth in Nigeria’s food and agricultural sector should be seized and offers the chance to leverage its immense food export potential. We are proud to deepen our commitment to food security and smallholder farmers in Nigeria while creating jobs that enable industrialization and facilitate regional and international trade. We are delighted to partner with Valency, and we look forward to the significant impact and economic development that our catalytic capital will support.”
