Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote says people are ‘begging’ him to sell crop nutrients as sanctions against Russia disrupt the supply.
Aliko Dangote, the richest person in Africa, recently opened the continent’s largest fertilizer plant.
The plant located in Nigeria was commissioned amid disruptions in fertilizer supplies due to sanctions against Russia.
Dangote said demand is robust, with customers “begging” for supplies.
Demand is already knocking at the door for Africa’s largest fertilizer plant, according to Aliko Dangote.
“People are begging us to sell,” Dangote told CNN in a recent interview.
The $2.5 billion fertilizer plant, which sits on 500 hectares (1,235 acres) of land, has an initial annual production capacity of 3 million metric tons of urea fertilizer.
The opening of the Dangote Fertiliser Plant comes amid a supply crunch in crop fertilizers due to sanctions against Russia, which accounted for almost one-fifth of 2021 fertilizer exports, according to Trade Data Monitor and Bloomberg’s Green Markets. Russia is also a top exporter of key fertilizer ingredients such as urea, ammonia, and potash, per trade outlet Argus Media.
The supply strain has sent fertilizer prices soaring, with the Bloomberg Green Markets North America Fertilizer Price Index surging to record highs. This, in turn, is expected to feed into already soaring food prices.
“We are lucky to have this plant,” Dangote told CNN. “It is coming at the right time with the Ukraine-Russia conflict as both Ukraine and Russia control substantial amounts of agricultural inputs.”
Dangote, 65, is the 80th-richest person in the world with a net worth of $20 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Dangote Fertiliser Plant is already shipping to the US, Brazil, and India, and is expected to create 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.
