REG - Dekel Agri-Vision - January Palm Oil and Cashew Project Update

Dekel Agri-VisionAnnouncement

10/02/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 2251B  Dekel Agri-Vision PLC  10 February 2022

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: DKL / Sector: Food Producers

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc ('Dekel' or the 'Company')

January Palm Oil Production Update and Cashew Project Update

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc (AIM: DKL), the West African agriculture company focused
on building a portfolio of sustainable and diversified projects, is pleased to
provide a January production update for its Ayenouan palm oil project in Côte
d'Ivoire, and an update on the timing of the ramp-up of production of our
large-scale cashew processing plant at Tiebissou, Côte d'Ivoire (the 'Cashew
Project').

 

Key Highlights

Palm Oil Project

·      20.2% increase in January 2022 CPO production compared to January
2021

·      All time record prices of CPO of €995 per tonne achieved in
January 2022. PKO prices also continued their strong momentum following the
commencement of exports achieving €1,275 per tonne in January 2022, a 92.3%
increase compared to January 2021

·      All time record sales revenue is expected to be achieved for the
month of January 2022

Cashew Project

·      Production from the Cashew project continued at approximately 15%
of production capacity in January 2022 while we await the delivery and
installation of final items of equipment. See details below

 

 

                              Jan-22    Jan-21                    Change

 FFB processed (tonnes)       18,429    15,601                    18.1%
 CPO production (tonnes)      3,929     3,269                     20.2%
 CPO Sales (tonnes)           3,303     2,538                     30.1%
 Average CPO price per tonne  €995      €796                      25.0%
 PKO production (tonnes)      209                  205            1.9%
 PKO Sales (tonnes)           289       164                       76.2%
 Average PKO price per tonne  €1,275    €663                      92.3%
 PKC production (tonnes)      330       292                       13.0%
 PKC Sales (tonnes)           27        150                       -82.0%
 Average PKC price per tonne  €85       €68                       25.0%

 

Crude Palm Oil

·      Production and Sales: January CPO production and sales started
the year strongly with production and sales increasing 20.2% and 30.1%
respectively

·      Prices: CPO prices achieved of €995 per tonne were an all-time
high, reflecting the continued strong international CPO prices

·      Extraction rate: January 2022 extraction rate increased steadily
through the month resulting in an average of 21.3% compared to 21.0% in
January 2021.

·      February 2022 early guidance: early in the month we have seen
some softening in production volumes.  It is too early in the month to be
definite as volumes typically pick up towards the end of the month.  However,
we have also seen a material increase in the extraction rate in February
towards 22.5% and sales prices remain very strong

 

Palm Kernel Oil ('PKO') and Palm Kernel Cake ('PKC')

·      Sales:  Our strategy to hold back sales to maximise prices has
worked well resulting in a 76.2% increase in sales quantities at prices much
higher than were being achieved in Q4 2021

·    Prices: 92.3% increase in PKO prices to €1,275 per tonne compared
to €663 in January 2021.  We are pleased to confirm our strategy to export
PKO at higher prices has continued to be successful.

 

Cashew Project

·      As outlined in our previous announcement dated 6 January, cashew
production has now commenced.  However, due to the challenges faced by our
manufacturers obtaining some key components, production remains at around 15%
of capacity whilst we await the delivery of the remaining components

·      The latest timeline provided by our Contractor is that the
remaining key items including the colour sorter and shelling machines will
arrive on site in March and April.  We are assisting our contractor where we
can, to avoid unnecessary further delays

·      Whilst the delay in ramping up to full capacity is frustrating,
we can confirm the Cashew processing is operating well and we have also
commenced pilot cashew sales locally

·      We continue to receive strong support from our local
stakeholders. Our key debt provider, the BIDC Bank, has extended the principal
grace period of its c.€4.6m loan from 2 to 3 years, acknowledging that the
delay in commencing full-scale production was beyond the Company's control

 

Lincoln Moore, Dekel's Executive Director, said: "Record CPO prices and strong
production in January are expected to deliver record revenues for January.
Whilst early indications in February are we may break the 5-month trend of
like for like monthly production growth, the efforts we have put into
increasing our extraction rate in Q4 2021 appear to be paying dividends, and
the CPO price outlook continues to remain strong"

 

"The Cashew project has commenced operations successfully, however, the
ramp-up to full production is taking time.  We are working with the
contractor to minimise any further delays.  We continue to believe the Cashew
project has the potential to become a very profitable operation, so together
with our shareholders we are anxious to ramp up to full production as quickly
as possible in the coming months"

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").  Upon the publication of this announcement via a
Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now
considered to be in the public domain.

 

** ENDS **

 

For further information please visit the Company's website
www.dekelagrivision.com or contact:

 

 Dekel Agri-Vision Plc                        +44 (0) 207 236 1177

 Youval Rasin

 Shai Kol

 Lincoln Moore

 Arden Partners Plc (Nomad and Joint Broker)  +44 (0) 207 614 5900

 Paul Shackleton / Ruari McGirr /

 Elliot Mustoe (Corporate Finance)

 Optiva Securities Limited (Joint Broker)     +44 (0) 203 137 1903

 Christian Dennis

 Jeremy King

 

Notes:

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc is a multi-project, multi-commodity agriculture company
focused on West Africa.  It has a portfolio of projects in Côte d'Ivoire at
various stages of development: a fully operational palm oil project in
Ayenouan where fruit produced by local smallholders is processed at the
Company's 60,000tpa crude palm oil mill; a cashew processing project in
Tiebissou, which commenced production in early January 2021.

 

 

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