Dangote Oil Refinery, the largest in Africa, has set its sights on capturing Nigeria’s $267.7 million polypropylene market starting next month, Aliko Dangote, president of the group said, as its largest oil and gas project edges closer to full operational status.

The refinery, part of the vast Dangote Industries conglomerate, is expected to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported polypropylene—a crucial raw material in various industries, including packaging, textiles, and automotive parts.

“Let me assure you of one thing, Nigeria from October will not import any more polypropylene, which used to be about a quarter of a million tons,” he said. “No more imports of polypropylene.”

Polypropylene, a versatile plastic used in a wide range of applications from packaging and textiles to automotive parts and medical equipment, is currently imported in large quantities by Nigerian manufacturers.

Annual polypropylene import into Nigeria is estimated at $267.7 million, according to TradeMap, which peaked at $407 million in 2022.

The latest data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the country brought in the product valued at N99.6 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, placing it at number 12 on the top 15 products imported by Nigeria from the rest of the world.

“We will satisfy the market 100 percent,” said Dangote. “This is so because these industries that are struggling and having to go and look for FX that they will not get and still have to keep stock for four or five months because it’s not easy shipping, clearing, and whatever, can buy as they need.”

He noted that the refinery is determined to do this because it will reduce the cost of importation and scramble for foreign exchange.

“We are also in the business. And our demand also as Dangote is huge. We have Dangote Packaging and are one of the biggest demand users of polypropylene,” he added.

Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, China, and Vietnam were the top importers of polypropylene into Nigeria in the first quarter of 2024, covering 90 percent of Nigeria’s demand.

Polypropylene is a versatile plastic used in a wide range of packaging applications. It’s often preferred over materials like cellophane, metal, and paper due to its flexibility, durability, and cost-effectiveness.

It is used in food and confectionery, tobacco, and clothing industries in flexible form while in rigid form, polypropylene can be found in caps, closures, pallets, crates, bottles, JIT storage solutions, and containers for products like condiments, detergents, toiletries, and yogurt.

Polypropylene’s versatility and benefits make it a popular choice for packaging across many industries.

“The polypropylene market is growing rapidly owing to the rising demand from the packaging industry. This high demand is associated with the increasing consumption of packaged food and beverages,” said Fortune Business Insights, a research firm.

“It also helps in reducing the possibility of food deterioration and quality loss.”

Nigeria’s Company Income Tax (CIT) surged by 150.83% to N2.47 trillion in Q2 of 2024, from N984.61 billion in Q1 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics has reported.

On a year-on-year basis, the CIT went up by 59.52% from N1.55 trillion in Q2 2023.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the NBS reported a growth rate of 150.83% from N984.61 billion in Q1 2024.

“Local payments received were N1.35 trillion, while foreign CIT payment contributed N1.12 trillion in Q2 2024,” the report shows.

“On a quarter-on-quarter basis agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded the highest growth rate with 474.50%, followed by financial and insurance activities and manufacturing with 429.76% and 414.15 respectively.

“On the other hand, activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use had the lowest growth rate with –30.22% followed by activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with –15.67%.

“In terms of sectoral contributions, the top three largest shares in Q2 2024 were Financial and insurance activities with 15.53%; manufacturing with 8.99%; and Information and communication with 7.84%.

“Nevertheless, the activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.00%, followed by water supply, sewage, waste management, and remediation activities with 0.02% and activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies with 0.03%.”

The Chairman, BUA Cement Plc, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said the current price of cement in the country remained the cheapest compared to other African countries.

He said this was in spite of severe energy challenges in the manufacturing sector.

Rabiu disclosed this during the company’s 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently in Abuja, where shareholders also approved the sum of N67 billion as dividend for the financial year, translating to N2 per share.

The BUA boss said energy consumption remained biggest challenge in the cement industry gulping billions of naira.

He said the company’s promise to force a reduction in the price of cement was frustrated by dealers who bought the product at a much lower price at its factory only to sell at higher prices to end users.

He said the company had sold over a million tons of cement to dealers at N3,500 per bag, but the latter sold to consumers at prices ranging between N7,000 and N8,000.

The BUA chairman also pointed out that Naira devaluation and the petrol subsidy removal also made price reduction unsustainable.

Rabiu said, “So, a lot of the dealers took advantage of that policy. Rather than pass the low prices to the customers, they were selling at even double the price we sold to them.

“Some were selling at N7,000 and N8,000 per bag. They made a lot of money with a very high margin. I think we had sold more than a million tons at N3,500 before we realised what the dealers were doing.

“And then, because of the issues that Nigeria faced at the time about the devaluation of the naira last year and the removal of fuel subsidy, we could not continue that policy.”

He said, “We wanted that price to stay at that level but dealers refused. So, we could not sustain that simply because we did not want to be in a situation where we were subsidising dealers.

“I’m referring to the point when the foreign exchange rate moved from about N600 to maybe N1,800 to the US dollar. So, it became even more challenging for us to sustain that price policy.”