Last week, Adenia Partners announced it has acquired 12 subsidiaries of Air Liquide, a French industrial gas group. Adenia, a Mauritius-based private equity firm, indicated that the businesses acquired are spread across West and Central Africa. Togo is included.

Established in Togo in 1970, the French company Air Liquide supplies a range of industrial and medical gases, based on fundamental molecules such as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. The multinational also designs fluid distribution systems for the medical and laboratory sectors and offers welding and cutting solutions.

The purchase is a prelude to the formation of an independent industrial gas group. The 12 countries hosting the subsidiaries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, and Togo. Their names will change and they will be pooled under a new entity.

In a press release, Air Liquide added that it sold the assets for around €60 million. That is less than 10% of the Group's total sales in Africa.

Adenia Partners, which manages over $800 million in assets through more than 30 investments, promises to support the growth of this new sector of its portfolio with long-term investments of up to €30 million.

The African industrial sector currently experiences growth, as demand for essential gases such as oxygen and nitrogen increases. These gases are used in many fields, from healthcare to industrial processing.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Austrian Airlines can now serve Lomé directly. Last Thursday, March 14, Togo and Austria signed an agreement to this end. The deal was signed in Lomé, by the Togolese Minister of Transport, Affoh Atcha-Dedji, and the Austrian Ambassador to Togo, Thomas Schlesinger. 

Commenting on the deal, Idrissou Ahabout, Managing Director of the National Agency for Civil Aviation of Togo (ANAC), said: “This agreement enables companies like Asky and Ethiopian Airlines to offer direct flights to Austria, from Lomé. It also opens the way for all investors who want to connect Lomé to Vienna to initiate the processes.” 

The agreement integrates environmental protection, security, and travelers’ safety. 

It will contribute to the government’s ambition to make the airport of Lomé (AIGE) a regional hub. 

In October 2022, Asky Airlines, the Lomé-based pan-African airline, opened new flight routes. As a result, the number of passengers at AIGE soared above 630,000 people in the first half of 2023. 

It is worth noting that the airport hopes its passenger traffic will reach 1.5 million heads by 2025.

Esaïe Edoh

Togolese exports grew from CFA566.1 billion to CFA841 billion in value from 2012 to 2022. The data, consulted by Togo First, was initially reported by the country’s Institute for Statistics, INSEED. 

According to the source, though there were fluctuations over the decade concerned, the figure grew from year to year on average, and so did activity at the port of Lomé. 

From 566.1 billion in 2012, exports lept to 637.3 billion the next year, plunged by 26% in 2014, and soared back up to 598.3 billion in 2019.

Then Covid hit

Togo earned 561.1 billion from exports in 2020. The following year, the number grew to 598.8 billion. 

But 2022 turned the tables

In the year closing the decade reviewed, the country’s export revenues soared by 40% to CFA841 billion. 

The trend stood with export revenues standing at 424.1 billion in the first half of 2023, according to the INSEED. 

However, trade balance widens (more and more)

Over the same 10 years reviewed, import spending grew significantly, reflecting Togo’s dependency on foreign countries.

From 939.2 billion in 2012, the country spent CFA1,741.2 billion to buy foreign goods in 2022. 

Contrasting with export earnings, Togo recorded a negative trade balance of 900.2 billion in 2022, against -373.1 billion in 2012. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo produced 38,880 tons of cashews in 2023. This is against 22,937 tons in 2019 (+70%).  The figure was disclosed by the Interprofessional Council for Cashew in Togo (CIFAT), on March 14. The same day, the country launched its new cashew sales campaign for the year.

While production has grown significantly in the past five years, processing still lags. “From 2019 to 2023 on average 21.28% of the output was processed per year”, said Komlan Gozan, CIFAT Chairman. 

“Together, we must strive to ensure availability and quality of cashew products, to meet international standards, to have farmers earn fair amounts, and to create sustainable partnerships with stakeholders in the sector,” he added. 

Established in 2016, the CIFAT regroups five associations and federations of stakeholders, the COPAT, the FNCPATOGO, the 3A-TOGO, the ATTA, and the CEFA.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Rose Mivedor, the Togolese Minister of Trade, participated, virtually, in the second UN Forum on the Future of Least Developed Countries. On this occasion, the official called the LDCs to commit to the structural transformation of their socioeconomic sectors.

According to Mivedor, social progress, and economic growth stimulate innovation, and that is why LDCs need to structurally transform their economies if they want to prosper. She spoke during a panel titled “Strategies to accelerate innovation and structural transformation.”

Among others, the Togolese Minister mentioned the country’s current government roadmap which aims to bolster resilience for more inclusive and sustainable growth. “Implementing this roadmap has enabled Togo to develop structural projects,” she said.

At the meeting, all participating countries asked developed countries to implement the Doha Action program. The goal of this program is to help LDCs face COVID-19’s negative socioeconomic impacts and advance toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Together, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso totaled over 92% of the port of Lomé’s transit in 2022.

In detail, Burkina Faso grabbed 80.48% of the port’s transit. Niger came next with 7.63%, and Mali followed with 4.55%. 

According to the Togolese Minister of Maritime Economy, Edem Tengue, the three countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) passed the 90% mark in 2019 and the figure has been growing since.

Burkina dominates Lomé port transit, meanwhile transit with Niger slumped in the past 9 years

Over the nine years from 2013 to 2022, transit from Togo to Burkina Faso rose from 849,716 tons to 3,081,050 tons. On average, it grew by 15.39% per annum over the period.

Over the period, transit to Mali rose from 93,927 tons to 174,203 tons in 2022. But it fell from 119,291 tons in 2014 to 80,140 tons in 2015.

As for Niger, transit with this country slumped from 319,367 tons in 2013 to 292,301 tons in 2022. In 2014, however, the figure peaked at 516,346 tons. The average per annum was -0.98%.

Maritime experts attribute the improvement to various efforts to bolster logistics infrastructure at the port of Lomé, and to improve the cooperation with the AES member States, especially regarding taxation and trade. 

However, several analysts anticipate that the current tensions between the AES and the ECOWAS, and sanctions imposed by the latter, could strongly impact transit between Lomé and the AES neighbors in coming years.

"The strategic importance of the port of Lomé for the AES countries is obvious. Serving as an indispensable conduit for their exports and imports, the port is now more than just a transit point. It has become a vital artery linking these economies to the world market, a tool of geopolitics. With recent events in the sub-region, its role should be strengthened," a Togolese economist told Togo First, adding that "the peaceful stance of Togolese diplomacy in the series of crises that have affected the Sahel, as mediator between the different blocs, positions Lomé and its port as players to be reckoned with, politically as well as internationally or commercially, in the future."

Lomé is Burkina Faso’s main gate to the sea. It competes with Cotonou which draws in most of the traffic from Niger. In recent months, Togolese authorities have ramped up their efforts to bolster their relationship with Burkina Faso. These include various measures benefiting the Sahelian businesspeople, prospecting visits, and tightening the bond between trade chambers.

For example, last month, the minister of transport of Niger was in Lomé. On the occasion, he thanked Togo for its massive support. “Because of Togo, since July 26, the people of Niger kept getting supplies,” the official said after meeting with Edem Tengue, the Togolese Minister of Maritime Economy. 

More recently, the OTR, Togo’s tax office, updated tax incentives for goods transiting to the three AES States via Lomé. However, the office highlighted that only goods unloaded at the port of Lomé would benefit from the measure. Meanwhile, the AES States are more open to doing business with Togo, especially since Togo's President, Faure Gnassingbe, adopted a more moderate stance regarding the region’s ongoing political shifts.

Still, for transit with Niger to grow, Togo must double down on its existing infrastructure projects, such as the National 1 road renovation. Lomé also needs to reassure its business partners in Niger who fear safety issues along the Lomé-Ouagaè-Niamey corridor. They also complain that using this corridor is more expensive and time-consuming than taking the Cotonou-Niamey route. “Through the chamber of trade, businesspeople issued some concerns, especially regarding safety and processing at some points of the corridor,” the Nigerien official told Tengue when he was in Togo in February. 

In response, Minister Tengue had said the goal now is to make sure that “trade between these two countries is as fluid as possible, both relative to exporting to and moving out goods made in Niger, enabling both countries to operate well.”

Togo, however, will not have it easy. Indeed, since the sanctions against Niger were lifted, Cotonou, Lomé’s direct competitor in this market, has also cut taxes to keep and gain new business partners in the Sahel country. 

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Togo has made significant investments and introduced several reforms to improve human capital. In a three-day visit to the country that ended on March 11, the World Bank VP for West and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, made the statement. Diagana had just met with Togolese PM, Victoire Tomegah Dogbe.

Throughout his stay, the World Bank executive met various officials with whom he discussed the government’s roadmap and its implementation. Mostly, they assessed existing initiatives between both sides, the Bank’s support in key areas, and Togo’s top development priorities.

“We anticipate positive results for our initiatives aimed at improving access to basic services, citizen participation, job creation, and opportunities for the youth,” said Diagana.

After his various meetings, the World Bank VP reassured the Togolese authorities of the “Bank’s constant support for resilience and performant programs.”

The World Bank’s support of Togo’s roadmap focuses on three major axes: stimulating the rural economy and modernizing agriculture, improving human capital, and reconstituting the fiscal space. In September 2023, the Breton Woods institution approved the disbursement of $170 million to support sustainable and inclusive development policies and the resilience of the West African food system (FSRP).

Esaïe Edoh 

Togo imported 52,568 tons of Thaï rice last year, according to the Ecofin Agency. This makes the country the tenth biggest importer of Thaï rice in Africa. 

The top five are South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Côte d’Ivoire. They imported 2.48 million tons in 2023. They were followed by Zimbabwe (55,691 tons), Algeria (76,747 tons), Angola (135,909 tons), Benin (139,206 tons), and Togo. 

India rules 

Thailand is the second biggest exporter of rice to Africa. India is first. 

Last year, Togo purchased nearly 90% of its rice from the Indian giant (mostly parboiled rice). 

In 2021, Togo imported 229,173 tons of rice abroad. Of this, 201,363 tons (88% of the total) came from India. 

Between 2010 and 2019, Togo’s rice imports soared from 74,000 tons to almost 195,000 tons. According to the INSEED, in 2019, the West African country spent CFA16.7 billion on these imports.