Even as he announced plans to more than double the capacity of his Lagos-based mega refinery, Aliko Dangote revealed he will also increase the throughput of his polypropylene plant from 900,000 t/yr to 1.4m t/yr over the next three years.
Africa’s richest man disclosed the plans during a recent press briefing in Lagos, where he shared the biggest update since the $470m CNG fuel supply deal that continues to stir debate in Nigeria’s downstream fuel sector.
Dangote said the 650,000 b/d refinery will be expanded to 1.4m b/d before 2030, along with an increase in polypropylene output from the associated petrochemical plant.
The plant commenced polypropylene production in March from the new ~900,000 t/yr facility, following a phased commissioning that began at the integrated oil refining complex in early January.
The two-unit polypropylene plant is said to be the largest in Africa.
Vinmar Group would later be contracted in May to help ship polypropylene from the plant to the international market.
The polypropylene market in Nigeria
Polypropylene (PP) is a versatile, lightweight, and durable thermoplastic polymer widely used in packaging, textiles, automotive parts, consumer goods, and medical devices.
Prior to Dangote’s entry, the only local producer of polypropylene homopolymer in Nigeria was Indorama, based in Port Harcourt.
However, their supplies rarely met domestic demand.
Nigeria’s annual demand for polypropylene is estimated at 250,000 tons, with approximately 90% of that met through imports.
Annual imports into Nigeria is valued at around $267.7m.
In 2022, the country saw a peak import value of $407m.
Polypropylene ranked as the 12th most imported commodity in Q1 2024, accounting for N99.6bn, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Between 2023 and 2024, 90% of Nigeria’s polypropylene imports came from five Asian countries: Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, China, and Vietnam.