Post by Trade facilitator on Apr 10, 2021 16:57:51 GMT 1
Cassava Chips and Pellets are products made from cassava. As you might have known, Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world; the country produced about 59 million metric tonnes of cassava in 2017 according to International Institute For Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Cassava is a staple food in Nigeria and Africa, and its derivatives are also used in making many types of products such as, confectionaries, sweeteners, glues, etc.
Cassava can be processed in a variety of ways to get different types of products. You can get gari, fufu, starch, and many other products depending on the part of the world you are operating from.
Chips and pellets are used in animal feed and alcohol production. Cassava chips and pellets are unfermented dried cassava, usually white in color. They come in average sizes of 3 – 5 mm in diameter.
They are used mainly to provide carbohydrate for the animal feed industry in Europe. It can also be used to produce things like ethanol, cakes, biscuits and dough nuts.
The opportunity in cassava chips industry in Nigeria is beyond what you can imagine, as far back as 1993 I have been opportune to witness cassava chips and pellet export from Benue state in Nigeria.
The farmers can even help you in pelletizing the cassava (though now there are pelletizing machines from China), dry them, and off you go for export.
The demand for cassava chips in the international market is huge. The estimated demand for cassava chips in Nigeria is in excess of 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum.
Export Potentialities of Cassava Chips and Pellets
The potentialities of cassava Chips export are enormous; Europe is the major importer of cassava chips from Nigeria for their animal feed industry.
The major importing countries in Europe are Netherlands, followed by Germany and Belgium.
There is currently a high demand of Nigeria cassava chips and pellets from China, you know that China is a big country and therefore has a big market; from available records, Nigerian exporters are planning to export about One Million metric tonnes of cassava chips to China in the nearest future.
Price of Cassava Chips in the International Market
The international price of cassava chips is between $2,500 and $2,800 per metric tonne. If you check this with the local cost of cassava chips in Nigeria, you will agree with me that this is a good venture to go into.
This project is economically viable, technically feasible, and highly profitable.
One of the major problems faced by early business people who were into this business was the traditional and inefficient method of processing the cassava into chips and pellets.
The problem was that they were processing a whole dried root into chips causing the chips to have undesirable colors, irregular shapes, and in most cases there are contaminations with molds.
The international market hates molds in products that are used for food and other consumption materials.
But now, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) has developed a process technology for converting freshly harvested cassava into dried cassava chips and pellets.
These products also have a shelf life of about 18 months, and free from excess cyanogenic glucosides making it suitable for export to the international market.
Did you know that the demand for cassava chips and pellets will continue to rise in Nigeria due to a Federal Government directive that the application of cassava flour by flour millers in the country should increase from 10 – 20%?
As cassava chips and pellets are the main ingredients in making cassava flour, the demand will surely increase.
From the foregoing you can see that investing in this agro export business will be a winner to many investors in the country.
Please note that we just dealt with the export potentials, in our next article we will be discussing how you can come into the production of the chips yourself.
We will talk about the various machines needed and where to get them.
Stay with us.
Cassava is a staple food in Nigeria and Africa, and its derivatives are also used in making many types of products such as, confectionaries, sweeteners, glues, etc.
Cassava can be processed in a variety of ways to get different types of products. You can get gari, fufu, starch, and many other products depending on the part of the world you are operating from.
Chips and pellets are used in animal feed and alcohol production. Cassava chips and pellets are unfermented dried cassava, usually white in color. They come in average sizes of 3 – 5 mm in diameter.
They are used mainly to provide carbohydrate for the animal feed industry in Europe. It can also be used to produce things like ethanol, cakes, biscuits and dough nuts.
The opportunity in cassava chips industry in Nigeria is beyond what you can imagine, as far back as 1993 I have been opportune to witness cassava chips and pellet export from Benue state in Nigeria.
The farmers can even help you in pelletizing the cassava (though now there are pelletizing machines from China), dry them, and off you go for export.
The demand for cassava chips in the international market is huge. The estimated demand for cassava chips in Nigeria is in excess of 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum.
Export Potentialities of Cassava Chips and Pellets
The potentialities of cassava Chips export are enormous; Europe is the major importer of cassava chips from Nigeria for their animal feed industry.
The major importing countries in Europe are Netherlands, followed by Germany and Belgium.
There is currently a high demand of Nigeria cassava chips and pellets from China, you know that China is a big country and therefore has a big market; from available records, Nigerian exporters are planning to export about One Million metric tonnes of cassava chips to China in the nearest future.
Price of Cassava Chips in the International Market
The international price of cassava chips is between $2,500 and $2,800 per metric tonne. If you check this with the local cost of cassava chips in Nigeria, you will agree with me that this is a good venture to go into.
This project is economically viable, technically feasible, and highly profitable.
One of the major problems faced by early business people who were into this business was the traditional and inefficient method of processing the cassava into chips and pellets.
The problem was that they were processing a whole dried root into chips causing the chips to have undesirable colors, irregular shapes, and in most cases there are contaminations with molds.
The international market hates molds in products that are used for food and other consumption materials.
But now, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) has developed a process technology for converting freshly harvested cassava into dried cassava chips and pellets.
These products also have a shelf life of about 18 months, and free from excess cyanogenic glucosides making it suitable for export to the international market.
Did you know that the demand for cassava chips and pellets will continue to rise in Nigeria due to a Federal Government directive that the application of cassava flour by flour millers in the country should increase from 10 – 20%?
As cassava chips and pellets are the main ingredients in making cassava flour, the demand will surely increase.
From the foregoing you can see that investing in this agro export business will be a winner to many investors in the country.
Please note that we just dealt with the export potentials, in our next article we will be discussing how you can come into the production of the chips yourself.
We will talk about the various machines needed and where to get them.
Stay with us.
