To improve food security in the country, BUA Foods Plc is expanding its pasta production capacity after signing a capacity expansion deal with an Italian company, FAVA.

This expansion deal will increase BUA’s pasta production capacity from 400,000 tonnes to 900,000 tonnes yearly. The company announced this via a statement signed by its Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Adewunmi Desalu.

Aimed at mitigating food supply challenges, expansion will include the addition of nine lines of long-cut pasta which will increase the company’s pasta production capacity by 400,000 metric tonnes per annum.

The company also noted that another deal was signed with an Italian company, Martini, to supply packaging equipment to BUA Foods Plc. Further, the company noted that it also signed a deal with a Turkish firm to increase its grain storage capacity to 100,000 tonnes.

BUA Foods’ Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu, stated that their manufacturing capacity expansion would enable them to extend their production capabilities and contribute to addressing ongoing food shortages in the country. He added that in addition to increasing pasta production, they would introduce innovations to support mixed volume growth while maintaining the high product quality their customers expect.

He added that the additional tonnes of grain storage capacity will enable them to meet growing demand while strengthening their food processing operations by ensuring a reliable and consistent supply of raw materials.

In the last few months, the company has engaged in a slew of strategic expansion activities in wheat processing and pasta production. This pasta facility expansion project is coming on the heels of an earlier project signed with Turkish flour milling equipment manufacturer a few months ago to build four wheat and flour milling factories to boost the company’s milling facility to 2.5 million MTpa.