Investment Opportunities in Liberia AXEL M. ADDY Minister of Commerce & Industry Republic of Liberia Investment Meeting November 22 nd, 2016 1
1 2 Why Invest in Liberia Catalytic Investment Opportunities USD Priority Sector Rubber: Scaling Up RSS & Replanting 3.0M B C D E F G Storage Infrastructure Gbarnga Commodity Exchange 5.0M Monrovia Industrial Park 3.0M Fisheries (Robertsport & Mesurrado) 12.0M Toll Road to Robertsport as a Tourism Enabler 26-36M Upgrading Liberian Standards Lab 1.4M Oil Palm: Kernel Processing & Outgrower Scheme 28.5M 2
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First-Mover Advantage Access to ECOWAS Strategic positioning in sectors where other countries have reached supply saturation point e.g. Cocoa in Ivory Coast / Palm Oil in Indonesia Market of 4.2M People/ over 300M ECOWAS High demand for key goods Palm oil Fish Rubber products Supportive Tax Regime Income tax rate is 25% on profits or 2% of turnover No capital controls, so any capital brought in Liberia can easily be expatriated Agri-processing & manufacturing investors are fast-tracked through Government services & facilitated access to investment promotion 4
Labour Pool Ease of Starting a Business Reduced cost of Critical Inputs Formal employment remains low, which provides a ready pool of workers Outside planned special economic zones, a minimum wage for formal work of USD5.50 per day for unskilled labor and USD6 per day for skilled labor applies. The World Bank in 2016 rated Liberia as 37th best in the world as a place to start a business, one of the top countries in Africa. Recent reforms have reduced the price of key construction inputs, removed import control and removed registration processes for certain inputs WTO Accession implementation of ECOWAS CET will lead to greater economies of scale due to larger market Duty-free on agriculture, agro-processing, and manufacturing inputs 5
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Long standing history in rubber production Potential to produce dry rubber products such as door mats, boots, bushels and gloves Large unexploited West African market for ribbed smoked sheets, rubber crepe & rubber products *Profits to be split between Farmer and RSS Producer 7
RSS Business Cluster Developers Can be an anchor business or farm Produce up to 20 ton of RSS per month per cluster Need 6-7 RSS Clusters to reach threshold for rubber manufacturing to be profitable One cluster costs USD160-200k Currently one operational (Bright Farm) and two finished by 06/2017 (GROW) COOPs Smallholder Farmers Receiving Stations Produce wet sheets out of Latex Supply to RSS Cluster (distance of 4/6 km) RSS RSS RSS RSS RSS Bright Farm RSS 8
NOW Scale up RSS Production Aim for 2018 Start Rubber Compounding/ Manufacturing When production scaled up (across 6/7 clusters), will reach 80-100t per month, then rubber manufacturing (hoses, mats, tubes, etc.) becomes feasible in Liberia Need 3 / 4 more RSS Business Cluster Developers USD 1.5m investment Once threshold of 80-100t RSS per month reached: Need investor in rubber compounding (melting rubber and mixing with chemicals) And in rubber manufacturing into finished products Wet sheets Up and running RSS Need to increase Compounding Aim 2018 Manufacturing Aim 2018 9
Capacity Potential Replanting Model Investment Opportunity 63,000t of latex produced in 2013 with split: 55% small farmers 45% from concessions (pre-war data) Potential expansion to 325,000t Only through successful replanting of smallholder farms rubber trees. Most farms are owned by groups of multiple family members, which makes investing complicated Need for private sector investors to take over farms (lease or buy from families) and replant trees Pilot: Set up 3 replanting companies that replant one 200ha farm each Cost to replant one farm USD 400k-600k + leasing/purchasing land costs Revenue intake per farm per year of USD 180k (1.5t of Latex per ha) 10
1 Post-harvest losses as high as 30%, due to bad management Threat of excess commodity supply and price crashes, leaving farmers worse off 2 Unused and moribund storage infrastructure Need to invest in Smart Storage and Efficient Market Access Solutions 3 LATA will add significant staple crops to Agricultural Markets Proposal: Modern AFEX e-wrs 11
Description Electronic Warehouse Receipt System (e-wrs) Private-sector led and run by AFEX Commodities Inc. Connects smallholder farmers to commodity and financial markets Investment USD5.0m over 3 years (until Break-even) 1.4m CAPEX, 2.7m OPEX, 1.0m Settlement fund Loan of USD 5.0m required Socio-Economic Returns Over USD30m in increased income to smallholders Over USD15m savings in reduced post-harvest losses Aggregate of USD50 Million in new wealth across rural and sub-urban Liberia Significant reductions in the food import bill of Liberia CAPEX = Capital Expenditure, OPEX = Operational Exp. 12
Dry Port Possible for GoL to expand the Commodity Exchange into a Dry Port, facilitating all paper work Finished containers up-country save transaction costs at Freeport Link to CARI Central Agricultural Research Institute present in Gbarnga To be expanded beyond rice and cassava Make seeds available for farmers to procure Link to Processing With commodities readily available in Gbangar, processors can source directly Higher value products could be manufactured more upstream, closer to farmers Challenge: Infrastructure (Electricity) 13
Sector Industrial Real Estate Organization MoCI (Lead) / NIC Description Contact Ellen O. Pratt Investment Squatters cleared, fencing finalized in 02/2017 8 active leases and 5 companies present already (biscuits, propane gas, nails, mattresses, container warehousing) Currently in discussion with further companies about lease agreements Investment in access to utilities (LEC electricity, water) and road USD 3M (PPP) Investor responsible for management of park 14
Domestic market unsaturated, particularly up-country plus large regional market Only 7,300 mt of marine fish currently produced locally, while consumption lies at 23,800 mt per year Abundance of renewable water sources providing year-long water availability & optimal natural water temperature for aquaculture 2 Processing Facilities being finalized Robertsport Mesurado Robertsport Facility MONROVIA Mesurado Fishing Pier Buchanan Fishing Pier 15
Sector Fisheries & Aquaculture / Fish Processing Organization MoA /MoCI Description Completion 02/2017 with facilities & basic equipment USD 12 M Investment Operation possible immediately with potential to expand processing & cooling opportunities Facility to include smoking units, water source, fuel station, boat & net repair, fish washing bowls, processing stands, chill room, & ice plants. Contact Dr. Moses Zinnah / Steve Marvie Impact Increased support to value-addition companies, creation of jobs, and promotion of Made in Liberia. Engagement of smallholder livelihoods, currently 37,000 Liberians engaged in fishing and processing Vitalize fishing industry & reduce wastage 16
Sector Fisheries & Aquaculture / Fish Processing Organization MoA / MoCI Description Rehabilitation of Fishing Pier will open Liberia up to international markets for export in addition to supporting value-chain addition through processing opportunities Import/Export terminal & National Competent Laboratory ensure Liberia has capacity to meet international standards Completion in 06/2017 Contact Dr. Moses Zinnah / Steve Marvie Impact Increased support to value-addition companies, creation of jobs, and promotion of Made in Liberia. Access to domestic, regional, & international markets 17
Sector Testing Lab Infrastructure Organization National Standards Laboratory (NSL) (under lead of MoCI) Description Finalized in 2011 (funded by EU), but not upgraded since Dual role: providing testing and calibration services that enable Liberia to safeguard food security and assuring exports meet international standards Contact Stephen Y. Mambu (Acting Quality Director NSL) Investment The currently basic equipment needs to be upgraded and staff needs to be trained for concessionairs to use the lab Investment of USD 1.4M over 3 years Significant revenue potentials among concessionairs, in particular in metrology (calibration) Break-even point estimated after 3/4 years PPP (concern for PPP regulation PPCC for example) 18
Sector Infrastructure / Tourism Organization MoPW Description Investment The road to Robertsport is unpaved, making access to Robertsport in rainy season very costly and preventing tourism expansion in Robertsport USD 26-36M for 40km 2-lane secondary road So far no reliable estimate of additional traffic generated / revenue intake Significant spillovers to local tourism industry, as more tourists come to Robertsport 19
Oil Palm is native to Liberia & grows abundantly across the country Most efficient source of vegetable oil & high yield makes it cheap to produce Business worth $50 billion annually with projections that will reach $88 billion by 2022. Liberia s oil palm market was at least $91.5 million in 2014 & has average annual growth of 5.9% p.a. in real terms since 2004 Liberia ranks second in ECOWAS in consumption of crude palm oil & kernel oil p.p. / p.a. ECOWAS market provides growing opportunity 20
Sector Palm Kernel Processing Organization J-Palm Liberia Description Contact Mahmud Johnson Investment Creating a market for otherwise wasted palm kernels, presenting an opportunity for smallholders to immediately increase their income. Demand for flagship product, Kernel Fresh, grew by almost 1000% between December 2015 and July 2016. Purchased palm kernels minuscule fraction of the estimated 120,000 MT going to waste in Liberia. If properly harnessed, these wasted kernels could fetch approximately L$1.8 billion for Liberian smallholder oil palm farmers per annum. USD 3.7M over 3 years Y1: 832,000 (58.8% profit margin) Y2: 1.2 million 65.6% margin) Y3: 1.7 million (70.5% margin) 22/11/2016 21
Sector Oil Palm production & processing Organization Description Contact Dr. Moses Zinnah MoA / IDH (Initiatief Duurzame Handel - The Sustainable Trade Initiative) SDPL and GVL together have concession agreements with GoL to develop 420,000 ha of commercial oil palm, subject to parallel development of 84,000 hectares of outgrower oil palm plantations. Sime Darby & Golden Veroleum produce certified palm oil pilot component will be managed by the companies Due to the experimental and proving nature of the pilot project, loan is proposed to carry an interest charge of 3%. Loss guarantee for elements of the pilot loan from the Norwegian Government through IDH Forest areas have already been identified in four of the five pilot areas. Investment Resource Requirements: USD 22.8 million 22/11/2016 22
Electricity: Transmission & Distribution (ELWA Corridor to Roberts International Airport) Water and Sewage: PPP targeting improved and expanded service delivery WTO Post Accession: E-Government Solutions including (Tax Collection, Work & Resident Permit, National ID, Visa on Arrival & Electronic Security Verification, Single Window Port Community for Customs, Verification of Conformity for Standards Infrastructure) Financing: Long term specialized financing solutions for low income housing, agriculture & SMEs. 23
NIC MoCI Liberian Tourism http://investliberia.gov.lr/new/ http://moci.gov.lr/ http://experienceliberiantourism.com/ 22/11/2016 24