Description

Fruit juices are produced from raw fruits. Fruit has been defined as the ripened ovary of the flower, with or without other associated parts.  It can be classified broadly into two, namely, juicy and pulpy fruits.  Juicy fruits include: orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, tangelo, pumelo, and so on while pulpy fruits include pineapple, mango, pawpaw, banana, cashew, guava, breadfruits, avocado pear and so on.

Fruits juice production is a viable project as raw materials are readily available in Nigeria.  Raw materials for fruits juice are oranges, lime, lemon, grape, paw paw, guava, pineapple and mangoes. These are grown in abundance in Nigeria and they waste away during the production season. There is every assurance that the plant will work round the year as constant supply of raw materials (fruits) is guaranteed.

There is high demand for fruit juice in Nigeria. With a population of over 165 million people and an estimated national population growth rate of 5.7% per annum ,an average economic growth rate of 3.5% per annum in the past five {5} years, Nigeria has a large market for fruit juice.

With the recent tariff imposed on imported food items including fruit juice, there exists now favorable climate for local producers of fruit juice. Today, such fruits juice, such as “five alive” and “Just juice” are now beyond the reach of average Nigerians, there now exists great opportunity for local producers of juice as locally produced ones can effectively compete well with imported items in terms of price.

The capacity utilization in the food, beverage and tobacco sub-sector is now   peaked at 50 percent, making it the most developed in the manufacturing sector.

The federal government placed an import ban on a wide range of agricultural   products to protect local industries and to conserve foreign exchange.

The production profile may have also be buffeted by favourable market situation, as consumption did hit over 468.5 million litres of fruit juice so far as at December last year 2011. That figure arrived at is based on a yearly   consumption increase of 10% since 2002.

Prior to the ban, approximately 80 percent (about 170 million litres per year, valued at $255million) of Nigeria’s demand for fruit juice was filled by imports. Interestingly, this growth in the juice market seemed to defy the poor performance indices the Nigerian economy has been recording.