LAGOS: Flour Mills of Nigeria has exported 10 percent of its locally processed soya bean products for the first time to feed mills in Europe and North Africa, its chairman said, helped by a weaker domestic currency. It exported 15 000 tonnes of soya bean products from its plant in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria, John Coumantaros told Reuters, after Nigeria floated its currency in June, which made the company’s products competitive abroad.
The naira lost a third of its value after the central bank floated it to preserve its dwindling foreign reserves and resolve chronic dollar shortages caused by a slump in oil prices, which has frustrated businesses. Flour Mills’ plant, one of the largest soya bean mills in Africa, mills about 150 000 tonnes of soya beans a year into ingredients used for animal feed and vegetable oil, Coumantaros said.
