Olam says Mozambique could be an oilseed production giant

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Olam says Mozambique could be an oilseed production giant

4:23 CAT | 17 Jun 2021

Photo: O País

The Vice President and General Director of OLAM for Southern Africa says that Mozambique enjoys conditions favourable for the production of oilseeds such as peanuts, cashew nuts, macadamia and soy.

Shridhar Krishnan says that investing in these products could allow the country to become a major producer and exporter of cooking oil in the region.

“Nowadays, around 70 to 80% of the cooking oil consumed in Mozambique is from palm, and this is not just in Mozambique. If you look at the whole world, more than 60-70% of the cooking oil consumed is from palm and we all know that its production requires certain agro-climatic conditions, found mostly in southwest Asia. We do not have these agro-climatic conditions, and the only option that remains for us is to migrate from palm oil to oilseeds, which are economically beneficial, both for the producer and for the consumer. If that happens, then we have an opportunity and, yes, it must start somewhere; we need, let’s say, five to 10 years,” Shridhar Krishnan said.

The entire southern African region imports around US$1 billion of cooking oil each year, and Olam’s Director General for Southern Africa said, during his address at the third edition of Mozgrow, that this presents an opportunity for Mozambican agribusiness companies.

“We, and other companies involved in this chain, import around 25,000 tons of cooking oil monthly. To produce this amount of cooking oil, nearly 200 tonnes of oilseeds are needed each month. To give you an idea, South Africa produces around one million tonnes of oilseeds each year; here, close to us, we have Zimbabwe and Zambia, which produce between 150,000 to 200,000 tons of oilseeds each year. This shows that if we are to reach these levels, we need to start somewhere. Here, in Mozambique, we have already started. We have some soy production, which can motivate more and more producers to stay in production, and this can help in the replacement process. Not 100%, but it will start the replacement process,” the head of Olam, Southern Africa said.

Shridhar Krishnan also discussed the promotion of cashew nuts in Mozambique, of which Olam has extensive experience, but recently shut down some cashew nut processing factories.

“Clearly, it was a global decision, in which we had to reorganise some of our businesses in some countries and one of the businesses affected was that of Brazil nuts, mainly in countries like Mozambique and Tanzania, where we also had processing at a certain level. We decided to focus all our attention on nut processing in some countries and to focus more on downstream cashew business beyond the nut scheme. This was one of the biggest decisions taken in terms of reorganisation, impacted this business and resulted in the closure of our cashew nut processing business in Mozambique,” Krishnan explained.

Multinational Olam has been operating in the agribusiness area in Mozambique for over 22 years, with a broad impact on job creation and improving the lives of families in rural areas.

By Orlando Macuacua

Source: O País