Commercial operation
Buying a target share of Nigeria's cocoa and selling it to Olam Agro
A 20% share of the 328,263 t national dataset means sourcing about 65,653 t across the producing states, conditioning it to export grade and delivering it against an Olam Agro offtake contract. The model below works from either the working capital you hold or the market share you want.
Reference target volume
65,653 t
20% of the national dataset
Study estimate· FrontiersNational reference output
328,263 t
Geographic production dataset
Study estimate· FrontiersSourcing footprint
18 states
Top 5 states carry 83% of volume
Study estimate· FrontiersOfftake counterparty
Olam Agro
Single delivered-price offtake contract
Field evidence· ReutersHow the trade runs
Six-stage buying and delivery operation
- 01
Farmer registration & mapping
Register farmers by state → LGA → community, capture farm polygons and tree age, and issue an ID that every subsequent purchase is booked against.
- 02
Buying-centre network
Place licensed buying centres in the hubs listed per state below, each with scales, moisture meters and a cash float sized to a week of purchases.
- 03
Village-level purchase
Buy at the farm-gate price derived from the day's market reference, paid digitally against the farmer ID so every lot stays traceable.
- 04
Quality conditioning
Re-dry to 7.5% moisture, sort out defects, fumigate and bag to export grade before the lot leaves the up-country store.
- 05
Consolidation & haulage
Aggregate lots into truckloads at zonal stores, then haul to Olam Agro's intake with weighbridge tickets and batch documents attached.
- 06
Delivery & settlement to Olam Agro
Deliver against a contracted tonnage schedule, settle on graded weight, and recycle proceeds into the next buying cycle.
Interactive financial model
Buying price, selling price and profitability per cycle
Enter your working capital or the market share you want to claim — the model returns the other side, then scales one cycle by the number of buy–sell cycles you can complete in a year.
Start from capital or from market share
Driving the model
Share your capital buys over 4 cycles
One cycle buys, conditions and delivers a batch; the same capital comes back and is redeployed. Annual figures are one cycle multiplied by 4 cycles, so the share of national output rises with the number of cycles, not with more capital.
Naira figures are converted from the US$ model at an indicative rate of ₦1,550 to US$1.
- Buying price
- $6,240/t
- $6,240/t
- Selling price
- $7,680/t
- $7,680/t
- Volume
- 752 t
- 3,010 t
- Total revenue
- $5,778,781
- $23,115,124
- Cost of beans
- ($4,695,260)
- ($18,781,038)
- Gross profit
- $1,083,521
- $4,334,086
- Variable cost
- ($304,740)
- ($1,218,962)
- Total capital
- $5,000,000
- $5,000,000
- Net profit
- $778,781
- $3,115,124
Margin per tonne after variable costs: $1,035. Net margin on revenue: 13.5%. Market share claimed: 0.9% of 328,263 t.
Where the 3,010 t comes from
Volume is allocated across every producing state in proportion to its production in the national dataset, so each state is asked for the same capture rate of its own output rather than an arbitrary quota.
| State | Belt | State output | Volume to buy | Capture rate | Purchase spend | Primary buying hubs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ondo | South-West core belt | 78,783 t | 722 t | 0.9% | $4,507,442 | Idanre, Odode-Idanre, Alade |
| Osun | South-West core belt | 72,217 t | 662 t | 0.9% | $4,131,779 | Ile-Ife, Iyanfoworogi, Ilesa |
| Cross River | Eastern / South-South belt | 59,087 t | 542 t | 0.9% | $3,380,567 | Ikom, Etung, Boki |
| Oyo | South-West core belt | 32,826 t | 301 t | 0.9% | $1,878,087 | Ido, Daagi Logba, Eruwa |
| Ogun | South-West core belt | 29,544 t | 271 t | 0.9% | $1,690,312 | Odeda, Ijebu-area communities, Imeko |
| Ekiti | South-West core belt | 7,759 t | 71 t | 0.9% | $443,919 | Gbonyin, Ise, Orun |
| Edo | Mid-west transition belt | 4,880 t | 45 t | 0.9% | $279,201 | Sabongida-Ora, Afuze, Igarra |
| Delta | South-South pocket | 4,780 t | 44 t | 0.9% | $273,480 | Nsukwa |
| Abia | South-East pocket | 4,680 t | 43 t | 0.9% | $267,759 | Ikwuano |
| Akwa Ibom | South-South pocket | 4,580 t | 42 t | 0.9% | $262,037 | Odoro Ikpe |
| Taraba | Emerging highland pocket | 4,480 t | 41 t | 0.9% | $256,316 | Gashaka |
| Adamawa | Emerging highland pocket | 4,380 t | 40 t | 0.9% | $250,595 | Toungo |
| Kogi | Northern edge | 4,280 t | 39 t | 0.9% | $244,873 | Lokoja |
| Kwara | Northern edge | 4,180 t | 38 t | 0.9% | $239,152 | Oke-Onigbin |
| Ebonyi | South-East pocket | 4,080 t | 37 t | 0.9% | $233,431 | Edda |
| Imo | South-East pocket | 3,980 t | 36 t | 0.9% | $227,709 | New Owerri |
| Rivers | Marginal | 3,747 t | 34 t | 0.9% | $214,379 | Bonny |
Variable cost build-up
Cost of moving one tonne from a village buying centre to Olam Agro's intake: $405/t. Financing and company overhead are excluded.
- Buying agents & aggregation feesCommission to LBAs and community aggregators$95/t
- Primary evacuation (farm → store)Bush transport on rural roads$60/t
- Bagging, fumigation & re-dryingBringing beans to export moisture and grade$45/t
- Warehousing & handlingUp-country stores plus transit shed$40/t
- Haulage to buyer's warehouseTrunk haulage to Olam Agro intake$55/t
- Quality control & grading lossesRejects, weight loss, re-conditioning$50/t
- Traceability & certificationFarmer registry, GPS polygons, EUDR pack$35/t
- Insurance, levies & documentationProduce levies, LGA charges, insurance$25/t
- Total variable$405/t
Buying calendar
Purchasing follows the crop: the main crop from October to March carries most of the volume, with the light crop and stock-building filling the middle of the year.
- Q1903 t
Tail of main crop · purchase spend $5,634,312
- Q2451 t
Light crop · purchase spend $2,817,156
- Q3301 t
Off-season stock building · purchase spend $1,878,104
- Q41,354 t
Main crop peak · purchase spend $8,451,467
Volumes are indicative and derived from the production dataset described in the methodology; prices and cost rates are adjustable planning assumptions, not contracted terms. Profit shown is a trading margin before financing costs and company overhead. Olam Agro is referenced as the intended offtake counterparty for this plan.
