In Nigeria, the late rains observed during October and November will benefit the 2015/2016 cocoa season. Indeed, the country is now looking forward to a production of 295,000 tons (+5.4% compared to the previous season). “Our initial forecast for this season was of 240,000 tons, but the good weather of the two months has helped in the production of more pods and this is sufficient for us to...

The Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group is considering investing USD one billion in several sectors in Africa during the coming five years, the Economic Times of India reported on 4 November, citing a manager of the company. “We have significant plans for expansion in Africa. We are looking to invest USD one billion during the next five years”, the group’s president for Europe, Prakash...

The Kenyan subsidiary of Barclays Bank has just announced the launch of a unit dedicated to agribusiness. This business unit will be responsible for giving loans to small and medium enterprises (SME) of the agro-sector from a 30 billion shillings fund (1,000 shillings = USD 9.8) Apart from financing SMEs, this new unit could also support more important projects such as the establishment of...

In Madagascar, there is growing anger among the litchi producers. They are outraged by prices used by some collectors which are out of sync with the prices observed on the local market. These prices, which have not moved for some years, prevent producers from investing in quality, their representatives explained to L’Express de Madagascar. “It has been three years now where the prices of...

The American president Barak Obama threatened, on 5 November, to leave South Africa out of the AGOA programme (Africa Growth and Opportunity Act), a system of trade preferences granted by the United States to sub-Saharan African countries. According to the White House, this threat is driven by the fact that Pretoria maintains barriers which prevent the entry of American poultry products on the...

In Uganda, the pump prices of petrol have increased as the Shilling rate rises against the dollar by 200 contradicting previous forecast. Last week the price of a litre of petrol in Kampala was at Shs 3,800 but has now risen to Shs 3,900 per litre while it costs Shs 4,000, in other parts of the country. Experts blame the increased prices on the foreign exchange and the costs of borrowing that...

Today in Nigeria, it’s not a surprise anymore as President Mohammadu Buhari finally names himself as the new Minister of Petroleum Resources. Buhari declared this at the swearing in of ministers at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. He is to be assisted by Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who is now the Minister of State for...

Ophir Energy says it has concluded commercial terms and is about to sign heads of agreements for the production of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the Fortuna FLNG project in Block R, Offshore Equatorial Guinea. The company in a statement declared that it reached the agreement with a selected group of LNG buyers known worldwide. It added that under the heads of agreement, the overall demand of...

NABIRM, an Exploration and Production company in conjunction with its partner NAMCOR, has announced the completion of the interpretation of 2D Seismic Survey on Block 2113A situated in the Walvis Basin, offshore Namibia. The Seismic interpretation was carried out on the block which covers 5,750km² (3,600km² offshore and 2,150 km² onshore) by ION Geophysics a U.S based company. It was aimed at...

Ghana’s National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC)’s former head Tsatsu Tsikata has advised the country to focus on gas production instead of crude oil. While speaking at an event, he stated that it is up to Ghana to take advantage and accelerate gas development as the cost of materials, equipment as well as production in the industry is reducing as a result of the decline in oil...