Nutreco enters into Nigerian joint venture

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and its second largest fish producer after Egypt. Nigeria produces more than 200,000 tonnes fish feed annually, mostly for catfish, and aquaculture production is growing by 5 to 10% per year.

The Skretting Nigeria 60/40 (Nutreco/Durante) joint venture will sell extruded fish feed and operate a plant in Ibadan, Oyo State, both for the local market and regional export. Durante was founded in 1999 by Ada Alakija and Willy Fleuren (Fleuren & Nooijen). They built Durante into a leading company in the Nigerian aquaculture sector. Revenue in 2013 was approximately € 9 million. Sales volume is currently around 5,500 tonnes and, with the addition next year of a new extrusion line, is expected to double by 2016. The current market share in the Nigerian high quality extruded fish feed market is approximately 15%. Closing of the transaction is expected within the next three months.

Knut Nesse, Nutreco’s CEO: “By entering into this joint venture we establish our presence in the Nigerian market, which is one of Africa’s most important. This is Nutreco’s second foothold in Africa, after our investment in Egypt last year, and expands our share of fish feed for non-salmonid species. This fits perfectly in our strategy. We intend this joint venture to provide a base for further expansion in the fast growing West African fish feed market.”

Community development

As part of Nutreco’s entrance into the Nigerian market it will explore – together with Oxfam Novib – how to increase the productivity of small fish farmers. In Southwest Nigeria local NGOs are engaged in assisting small fish farmers with livelihood improvement programs. Nutreco, Durante, Oxfam Novib and other stakeholders see good possibilities to assist in increasing the yield of these small fish farmers and thereby contributing to the global challenge of feeding nine billion people sustainably in 2050.