PALM OIL BUSINESS- BECOME AN EXPORTER OF PALM OIL AND PACKAGING FOR EXPORT on: May 22, 2011,

, 04:38:54 AM BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES YOU NEED TO KNOW IN PALM OIL PROCESSING AND EXPORT: RAKE IN MILLIONS AS A SMALL-SCALE FARMER TRADING AND EXPORTING TO EUROPE Ask any commodity farmer in southern Nigeria which cash crop that has no useless part or derivatives, has more value by putting cash in his pocket, and enriches the soil, he/she'll probably say "Oil Palm." Every part of this cash crop has great value. Other product gotten from oil palm tree includes palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake can be gotten from the oil palm tree. Palm kernel oil (PKO) is extracted from the nuts of palm kernel. Please, dont confuse it with palm oil, which is obtained from the pulp of fruit of the palm. Palm kernel oil crushing is a viable investment because raw materials can be sourced at ease, the production technology is simple and feasible and the market for end products are automatic. On the other hand, palm kernel Cake (PKC) as a bye product in the milling of palm kernel oil. It is commonly exported to Europe. It is delivered in bulk via vessel or pack in Bags for easier handling and distribution. Lately, it is used as a Biomass fuel in Europe especially United Kingdom to provide heat and energy. The cake is demanded by feed millers and by exporters. Actually, Oil Palm trees grows in the coastal belt in Nigeria which varies in depth from 100 to 150 miles and a riverine belt which follows the valleys of the Niger and Benue for a distance of about 450 miles from the sea. The main palm oil producing states includes Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Edo, Cross River, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ekiti, Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Rivers. Palm oil, a product gotten from the processing of fresh fruit bunch {oil palm tree} forms an important part of the local diet in Nigeria because animal fats such as milk and butter are hardly consumed. It is used both as a cooking material and as an ingredient in soups, sauces and a variety of local dishes. Consequently, there had long been a thriving market for palm oil both within the main areas of production in eastern and western Nigeria and between these regions and the non-palm oil producing northern region.

Other product gotten from oil palm tree includes palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake can be gotten from the oil palm tree. Palm kernel Shell {PKS} is gotten from the cracking of the palm kernel shell to release the nut after the palm oil has been extracted from fresh fruit bunch {FFB}. The market for Palm kernel Shell {PKS} in Nigeria is well developed since the industries that requires them as raw materials is not well developed in the country. Orders are usually from overseas buyers that require them as raw materials majorly in the production of biofuel and road construction.

The quality specification from an interested buyer is stated below Element Analysis (wt %) Moisture 15% to 20% (Maximum) Fiber 2% to 3% (Maximum) Foreign Matter 2% (Maximum) Hard Nut Shell 95% Kcal 3500 to 4000 Industry analysis (wt %) Carbon (C) 52.95 Hydrogen(H) 6.29 Nitrogen (N) 0.52 Oxygen (O) 38.51 Sulfur(S) 0.07 Packaging is usually in 50 Kg PP bags for easy containerization.

OIL PALM FARM SYSTEM IN NIGERIA The primary unit of production of the palm oil industry is the farm where the oil palm tree is cultivated to produce palm fruits. There are also wild groves of oil palm. The farm units are of different sizes and may be classified as small, medium, and large-scale estates. The wild groves, as the name implies, grow untended in the forest. They are found in clusters and are mainly the result of natural seed dispersal. Dura, the main variety found in the groves, for decades has been the source of palm oil - well before modern methods of oil palm cultivation were introduced to Africa in the second quarter of the 20th century. The other varieties are Pisifera and Tenera, which is a hybrid variety obtained by crossing Dura and Pisifera. The Dura has a large nut with a thick shell and thin mesocarp. The Pisifera is a small fruit with no shell. By crossing the Dura with Pisifera a fruit is obtained with a thick mesocarp containing much more oil and fat (chemically saturated oil) than either of its parents. The Tenera nut is small and is easily shelled to release the palm kernel. The Tenera palm kernel is smaller than the Dura kernel although the Tenera bunch is much larger than Dura. In all, the Tenera is a much better variety for industrial and economic purposes. SMALL-SCALE FARM Plantation farming is a new phenomenon to West African culture. In most parts of Africa the farm culture is basically subsistence. The family cultivates a small plot for their food needs and interplant tree crops. After three years or more the tree crop takes over the plot and the farmer moves to another. The

new plot may be acquired from the Chief in a location far removed from the old plot. Farm-holdings are therefore small and scattered. The land tenure system does not permit large-scale farming unless the government steps in to acquire the land for public use. Thus it is difficult to think of one family owning a large contiguous estate suitable for plantation farming. A small-scale palm oil farm may cover 7.5 hectares. The farms production of fruits may be processed by the farmer, using the traditional method of palm oil extraction, or sold to other processors. During the lean season the farmer sells to the small-scale processors at prices higher than those offered to the larger mills. The small-scale farms are normally well maintained even though they may not adopt modern agronomic practices such as application of fertilizer, cover cropping, etc. to improve soil fertility and yields. MEDIUM SCALE FARMS The medium-scale farm ranges from 10 to 500 hectares. This type of farm normally uses modern agronomic practices such as plant spacing, cover cropping, fertilization, ring weeding, pruning, etc. Some farmers in this category own processing facilities and therefore use their own output as well as buying from neighbours. Those who do not own mills face marketing problems during the peak season when fruit is abundant and processors do not have to forage for raw materials. Because the fruits are perishable and lose weight once harvested, farmers need prompt payment and evacuation of their fruits. If the roads are impassable they may suffer great loss of produce and income making it difficult for these farmers to finance their operations. As a result a number of farmers in this category are unable to adequately maintain their farms, resulting in decreased output from year to year. LARGE SCALE FARMS Large-scale farms cover an area in excess of 500 hectares. These are state owned enterprises which were established to meet the internal consumption needs of the country and provide a surplus for export. The estates are well run and maintained. They employ the best farming techniques and employ highly skilled professionals to work their operations. Unfortunately they are always considered intruders in the communities where they operate, simply because they employ people who are not natives of the immediate catchment area. Most estates are being privatised or sold to private interests in an effort to wean the respective governments from directly engaging in competitive businesses. Most estates had nucleus farms with out-growers and private smallholders supplying raw palm fruit to the central processing factory. The processing facilities were generally in the large-scale category. Because of privatization exercises some large-scale processing operations have closed, leaving plantation output to be sold to small-scale processors. It is not unusual today to find many small-scale processing operations exploiting the splitting up of a plantation estate. The Republic of Benin, Cameroon and Ghana abound with examples of this type of take-over by small-scale operators.

PALM OIL INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA Palm oil is produced mainly in the southern part of the country because of natural vegetation that is

favourable to the growth of palm trees. Over 90 percent of the palm oil in Nigeria is from the wild palms which are found in groves in most parts of the country. Industrial use of palm oil has become very significant in Nigeria. Palm oil export from Nigeria declined drastically as soon as crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Nigeria. Palm oil output in Nigeria has had a very bad growth record in the past decade. The poor growth rate of output is due largely to the increasing average age of palm trees, and hence, the declining yield of those trees. The poor performance is also reflected in Nigeria's share of world palm output which declined from about 36 percent in 1965 to about 27 percent in 1982 during oil boom era. Palm oil export from Nigeria has fared even worse. The sharp decline in export stems from a rapidly expanding domestic demand for oil, which was not matched by output expansion. Similarly, palm kernel, which is a product of the palm tree, did not also boost foreign exchange earning of the country. Like palm oil, palm kernel production remained virtually stagnant between 1960 and 1972 except for the sharp decline that occurred between 1967 and 1969 due to the civil war. Nigeria's share of total world palm kernel output decline from about 41 percent in 1965 to 32 percent in 1972. Export declined rather sharply from 418 thousand Metric tons in 1960 to about 181 thousand metric tones in 1974. The decline is largely accounted for by a rapidly domestic demand particularly for industrial processing. This is why the proportion of palm kernel output exported decline from 97 percent in 1960 to 91 percent in 1965 and 50 percent in 1972. Throughout the period of oil boom, income from palm kernel was marked by sharp annual fluctuations. This was more so for export income than product income as producer prices fluctuated less than export prices. The shortages and attendant high prices of oil palm and other traditional products also reflect the inadequacies in the efforts of the government, private individuals and cooperative organisations to substantially expand the nation's food supply base to meet the heavy demand arising from our rapidly growing population, raw materials for our industries as well as exports. When one reflects on the days the defunct Eastern region was mainly known for its God given natural endowment, which amongst others are Coal, oil palm and coconuts before the discovery of crude oil in commercial qualities, it becomes obvious to conclude that our leaders have not managed our naturally endowed resources well. It is unfortunate that our previous governments allowed this oil palm glory of ours to be lost. The Oil Palm tree is one of the greatest economic assets a state or nation has, provided its importance is realized and potentials fully harnessed. The Oil Palm products include Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil and Palm Kernel Cake. These can further be processed into RBD OLEIN (Cooking Oil), Vegetable Ghee, Shortenings, Margarine, CBS. CBE, Ice Cream, Dough, Creaming, Coating, and other speciality fats. Some other byproducts of the Oil Palm includes Palm wine, fatty alcohols as well as intermediates. Nature so made it that all aspects of the Oil palm tree is useful and economically viable. Malaysia, which is the leader in oil palm business in the world today, got its first seedlings from Nigeria. Having discovered the potential quite early, Malaysia took the cultivation very seriously in an effort to boost its economy. In Malaysia, it is called "the golden crop". It is the cornerstone of the country's industrial growth today. Malaysia, driven by the desire to remain on top, has over 3.2 million hectares of oil palm plantations, milling out nine million tons of palm oil with earnings up to $7 billion from its export. Presently, Malaysia

has gone beyond fabrication of mills to the addition of value to the products by refining and fractionating oil in order to produce chemicals like the fatty acids, fatty alcohols and intermediates. It was in an attempt to restore the oil palm to its prime position as well as agriculture as the mainstay of the economy that the federal and state governments started revamping and establishing oil palm agencies. For example, states like Anambra, Abia, Cross River, and Rivers States established oil palm agencies while the federal government increased its funding to the Nigerian Institute of Oil Research (NIFOR) Benin. Anambra State Oil Palm Development Agency, established in 1989 by the Robert Akonobi Administration in the old Anambra State, was charged to execute the small holder oil palm development scheme of the state government as well as Oil Palm plantations, nurseries and Oil Mills amongst others. HERE ARE SOME PALM-OIL EXPORT BUSINESS OPTIONS IN NIGERIA FULL TIME EXPORTER: These exporters only engage freight forwarders minimally for their port of loading operations. The option are suitable for those who are available 24 hrs and also existing business providers that will like to be fully involved in their export operations. The return on Investment on this option could range from 30% to 45%. The exporter is involved in export planning, export financing, export contract sourcing, export product sourcing, pre-export documentation, haulage to the warehousing, warehousing and inspection, freight forwarding, haulage to the port of loading and post export documentations. PART TIME EXPORTERS These exporters depend on consulting firms and freight forwarders to carry out some of their export operations. This option is suitable for individuals that would like to start a business while still in a paid employment and also have some time to spare . Is also a viable option for existing businesses that want to divest. The return on investment for this option could range from 25% to 35%. The exporter is involved in export planning, export financing, export product, sourcing, pre-export documentation, haulage to the ware house, haulage to the port of loading, post export documentation. ARM CHAIR EXPORTER These exporter depend on consulting firms, local buying agents and freight forwraders to carry out most of their export operation. This option is suitable for individuals that would like to start a business while still in a paid employment but do not have enough time to spare. The return on Investment for this option could range from 10% to 25%. The exporter is only involved in export planning, export financing, pre- export documentation and post export documentation. EXPORT BROKERAGE An export broker in palm oil trading is a match maker. Becoming an export broker is one of the easiest and the most rewarding ways any prospecting exporter can raise money to go into full time export business. Their advantage are enormous starting from little or no capital, an export broker could earn large finders fees with absolutely unlimited income. There is hardly another business requiring a negligible start-up cost that can put you into a six figure bracket so quickly than an online based export business. It gives one the power, prestige and high respectability in his community.

EXPORT BUSINESS CAN STILL ACCOMMODATE MORE NIGERIANS The non oil export business is still at its very primitive stage in Nigeria with a high potential for growth. The market is thus inexhaustible [especially for agriculture commodities and other consumables]. Therefore, there is space for anyone that would like to earn foreign exchange via the export business. If you are interested in export business, you can start as a armchair export, or enter the business as a parttime exporter and finally as a full time exporter. If you enter as a full time exporter, then you should grow to become a part time exporter and finally a full time exporter depending on your strategy. PALM-OIL EXPORT HAS A VALUE CHAIN There is a huge demand for agricultural commodities by exporters in Nigeria especially in Lagos. Therefore, beyond the export business, prospective customers who cannot afford to wait for two to three weeks for funds repatriation after exporting could bridge the gap in the commodity value chain by becoming, commodity farmers, local buying agents, commodity Merchants or Sales Agents. COMMODITY FARMERS The farmers cultivate the agricultural commodities and sell them to the local buying agents[LBA]. These farmers could be in cooperatives or act as individuals. The farmers major need apart from finance for expansion , is basically, getting buyers for their commodities during the harvest losses which have been put at 30-50% in Nigeria by the world of food science. Exporters buying directly from farmers are however, exposed to the risk of procuring unprocessed, ungraded and unsorted commodities. THE LOCAL BUYING AGENTS [LBAs] LBAs go into the interior and villages to buy from different farmers at the farm gate and commodity markets and sell to the commodity merchants. The LBAs have small capacity with monthly total turnover of less than 2.5 million naira. They usually do not have equipment to check the quality of the products and they rarely have warehouses. Therefore, exporters buying from LBAs could get the commodity at a cheaper rate but they are at the same time exposed to a very high risk of procurring low quality commodities. THE COMMODITY MERCHANTS The commodity merchants reside in cities and towns. They buy commodities from various LBAs. They have large capacity with total monthly turnover of over N20 million naira. They often have large warehouses and also have equipment to check the quality of commodities purchased from LBAs. They process these commodities and sell them to exporters and local industries. Exporters buying commodities from merchants can be assured of good quality products. They often prefer to sell from their own location but if necessary, they can deliver to the exporters warehouse. COMMODITY SALES AGENTS Commodity sales agents are mainly located in places like Lagos, in Nigeria. They sign an agreement with exporters to deliver exportable commodity to their warehouses in Lagos. They purchase the commodities from the merchants or sometimes LBAs and typically depend on the exporters mobilizing

them with an advance payment [all or part of the total cost of delivery to Lagos] in order to operate successfully. BENEFITS OF PALM OIL TRADING Higher Return On Investment & Zero Taxation. Guaranteed Pre-Determined Profit. Access To Export Grants. Access to Micro Finance Loans.

CONTENT OF PALM OIL PACKAGE Business Opportunity in Palm Oil Trading & Export[Source & get paid instantly]. Business Opportunity in Palm Oil Contract Sourcing *Get Contracts & sell for commission+. Guide on Oil Palm. Palm Oil Processing. Traditional Techniques and Innovations in Small Scale Palm Oil Processing. Palm kernel Oil Extraction & Environmental Consideration. PALM OIL- Guide to Registering your Business as a limited liability Company & getting an Agro-Export License. Secrets to Palm Oil Storage Business *Over 400% Returns on your Investment in February To May Season]. PALM OIL: Export planning, Unit, procedure, Trade mission, Insurance, financing and documentation. PALM OIL: Product quality, specification, classification, packaging and laboratory analysis. PALM OIL: Pricing, transport/Logistic and Ware-Housing for export. ABC to Sourcing Palm Oil locally in Large quantity with ease anywhere in Southern Nigeria (where & how). How to export your product duty free to the US market with comprehensive list of 6400 products under the African Growth and opportunity act. Directory of AGOA product exporters in West Afriacan Countries, another great opportunity to start doing business with already established Exporters who are doing business with the Americans. Getting Foreign Contracts for Palm oil: Where and how to access thousands of genuine International buyers of this commodity with ease. Listing of all Registered Nigerian shipping companies, contacts and addresses. How to become a member of the Exporters Association of Nigeria with their application form and Benefits. Checklist for exporting Under AGOA. PALM OIL TRADING: Simple guide to getting Trading Loan by Nexim Bank and Others to ease your trading. Reputable Organization to leverage on to succeed*optional for you+ Guide to selling Abroad/Exporting to the United States. Guidelines to Successful Tradeshow Participation of agro-products [WATH].

 All the manuals *production, grading etc+ and resources on cashew and its export. Manuals on cassava export from Nigeria. Manual on Shea- Butter Export. Manual on Charcoal export. Follow-up Support and regular export updates. 07033097160 for the Guides/packages/training materials and start-up kits & to get all the packages all in PDF Format sent to you. Cost: N7500, Payable to the account below: ACCT. NAME: Nwosu Chidiebele ACCT. NO: 0006110000029800 BANK: Intercontinental Bank Send the following details through text: Teller No, Date of payment, Full Name, AND Email address to 07033097160. Have a nice time ahead. I am your agro-export resource person. Have a nice day.