As Indonesia seeks offshore palm oil plantations in Africa

It has been reconfirmed that Indonesia seeks offshore production of palm oil and Africa seems to be the target, and Nigeria is said to be a big focus. This is coupled with trade volume between Nigeria and Indonesia which surged from $2.61bn in 2021 to $4.78bn in 2022, with trade surplus said to be in favour of Nigeria.

Now, businesses in the Port Harcourt economic belt are pushing to tap into this huge opportunity and have bite into the cake especially in the palm oil value chain.

Already, the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (PHCCIMA) headed by its first female president, Chinyere Nwoga, has facilitated a huge business interaction with the Nigeria Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) headed by Ishmael Balogun, CEO of Glodmine Global Services.

The interaction focused on opportunities for Nigerian businesses in Indonesia especially the forthcoming international trade and investment exhibition in Djakarta.

Addressing a sizeable crowd of business owners at the PHCCIMA Hall in Port Harcourt, Balogun of NICCI said Indonesia seems to have run out of land for massive oil palm cultivation and thus seeks for offshore production alternatives in Africa and mostly Nigeria from where the palm nut was introduced to them and Malaysia in the first place by the British colonialists around 1870.

Now, oil palm growers and palm oil value chain players who attended the event asked deep question and sought collaboration, to which Balogun assured of presence of big players in the sector such as Wilmar.

One of the players in the palm oil value chain, Ikechukwu Amajuoyi, who runs a farm between Imo and Rivers states, asked to know if the partnership with Indonesia could help in openings for exchange programmes to deepen skills and close tech gaps in the palm oil value chain.

He said: “Closing the gaps will have significant impact in boosting local palm oil production. We in palm oil production and export located between Imo and Rivers State area have issue with standardization of quality for export.

“We get orders to supply large quantities abroad but getting local producers of same quality is an issue. We got order abroad for 10,000 tons and we even tried to source from Malaysia but the client insisted it must come from Nigeria. We are stranded with the order. We want help in area of training for our producers to know how to operate same standard in palm oil production for export. We also need technology. We want how the collaboration with Indonesia can help us in these key areas.”

Others including Ofon Udofia, executive secretary, Institute of Export Operations and Management (IEOM), asked to know if there were plans to close deficits in non-oil export between Nigeria and Indonesia. Others asked about legal services and insurance in the partnerships.

Responding, Balogun said they were talking to a company in Indonesia known as Wilmar, and they are interested in business in Nigeria and in areas of technology, training, etc.

He reminded the audience that trade balance is in favour of Nigeria but it may not be in the non-oil sector. He said there were huge opportunities for business-to-business (B2B) discussions before the international trade fair.

He noted that Indonesia is big in food business including Indofood (Indomie). They also own Indorama, Kalbe Farma, Wings Group, PT Timah, and PT Wika.

He assured that more companies from Indonesia would come into Port Harcourt by the collaboration being kickstarted by the PHCCIMA and NICCI.

Opening the floor for interactions, Nwoga of PHCCIMA said the plan is to grow the businesses of the members and the business communities around the PH economic belt.

She added: “We are here today because we’re pursuing this mandate and we’re proud to stand on that mandate, by the way.

“Indonesia is a country that has prospects. It is a country that offers big extensive business opportunities and we’re here today to hear from the man: the entrepreneur, the president (Balogun) to tell us and expose to us to all those hidden secrets. This is because I know that a lot happens in Indonesia and today, we are going to unbundle all of that by the special grace of God. We will key in and businesses will grow.”

She commended Tari Membre of ‘Now Travels and Tours’ who is the Head of Missions, the Mission Desk of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, who was said to have sponsored the event.

Tags: offshore, Indonesia, Production, palm oil, Africa, Nigeria, cultivation