• Burkina Faso inaugurates $3.56 million soybean oil mill in Ouagadougou

• Plant processes 12 tons of soybeans, producing 10 tons oil daily

• Expansion planned as soybean output more than doubled since 2019

Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts inaugurated a soybean oil mill in Ouagadougou on Feb. 27. Built at a cost of 2 billion CFA francs ($3.56 million), the facility was developed by the Société Industrielle d’Agroalimentaire pour la Transformation des Oléagineux (SIATOL).

According to local outlet Le Faso.net, the plant has a daily crushing capacity of 12 tons of soybeans and can produce up to 10 tons of refined oil per day for the domestic market. It also includes production lines for poultry and livestock feed with an estimated capacity of 100 tons per day, using soybean meal generated during the crude oil extraction process.

“The choice of soybeans as the main raw material is deliberate,” said SIATOL managing director Marcel Ouédraogo. “This oilseed contains about 20% oil rich in essential fatty acids, including omega-3 and omega-6, as well as vitamin E.”

A boost for local soybean production

In a second phase of its industrial project, the company plans to install an additional soybean crushing line at the Ouagadougou site. Scheduled to begin operations in 2026, the new line will process up to 40 tons per day. SIATOL also plans to build a second poultry and livestock feed unit with a production capacity of 200 tons per day.

The expansion is expected to increase demand for soybeans. SIATOL says it already works with a network of more than 3,000 small producers in Sissili province who supply raw materials to the company.

The investment could support the rapid growth of soybean production in Burkina Faso in recent years. Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD) shows that soybean output more than doubled in five years, rising from 51,708 tons in the 2019/2020 season to 129,225 tons in the 2023/2024 campaign.

Beyond supporting domestic production, increased refined soybean oil output could help reduce Burkina Faso’s reliance on edible oil imports, which continue to rise. According to INSD data, the country imported nearly 192,900 tons of animal or vegetable fats and oils in 2024, five times more than in 2020, when imports totaled 37,300 tons.

Over the same period, the cost of these imports almost doubled, increasing from 14.8 billion CFA francs ($26.11 million) in 2020 to 28.2 billion CFA francs ($49.77 million) in 2024.

Stéphanas Assocle