As stated by the IFC, the proposed investment is a corporate loan of up to US$40 million to Samuda Food Products Ltd (“SFPL” or the “Company”).

The use of proceeds will finance the construction and operation of a greenfield soybean crushing plant with a capacity of 540 Metric Tonne/day Crude Degummed Soybean Oil and 2,370 MT/day soybean meal/ soya cake; additional by-product includes soybean hull (123 MT/day) and lecithin gum (20 MT/day).
The Project will improve food safety by boosting the domestic processing of soybeans, supplying crude edible oil for cooking and other edible purposes, and providing soybean meal to local feed producers to support local production of animal protein.

The plant will be located at Mirsarai Economic Zone (MEZ)-II, managed by the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), approximately 70 kms north of Chittagong port, the largest port of Bangladesh. BEZA leased 60 acres of encumbrance free land to Samuda Group in 2020, out of which 11 acres was allotted to this project. The remaining land is used by Samuda’s two other subsidiaries: (i) Samuda Construction Limited (SCL), currently operational, and (ii) Samuda Edible Oil Limited (SEOL), currently under construction.
There is no physical or economic displacement on the land provided to SFPL by BEZA. 

MEZ- II was part of the World Bank (WB) Private Sector Development Support Project (PSDSP) for Bangladesh aimed to develop economic zone meeting international standards. The establishment of the MEZ II underwent an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process in compliance with the Bangladeshi's legal and regulatory requirements and WB requirements, with the intent of integrating good E&S management practices in the design of MEZ-II. The ESMP defined as a result of the MEZ-II ESIA process is currently under implementation by BEZA. Details of the implementation progress of the ESMP for MEZ-II were not available at the time of this appraisal. BEZA has obtained Environmental Clearance for the MEZ-II from the Department of Environment (DoE).

SFPL did not require a regulatory EIA (as BEZA has completed ESIA for MEZ-II), although SFPL had to separately apply for Environmental Clearance Certificate from DoE which it has already received. Though there was no regulatory ESIA requirement, SFPL commissioned a project specific ESIA in line with Bangladesh' legal and regulatory requirements and IFC Performance Standards.

The crushing plant, for which construction is scheduled to start in September 2024 and spread over 24 months, will be equipped with a jetty of approximately 470m long and 25m wide at around 600m from the super dyke surrounding MEZ-II. The jetty construction will include pile driving activity in coastal waters. Necessary permissions have been obtained from BEZA and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority prior to the construction of this jetty.

SFPL will source electricity from the national power grid till the gas-based co-generation power plant of 17 MW is commissioned. Water, gas, and other utilities are already available on-site. The project will have ancillary facilities, such as a raw water treatment plant, a wastewater treatment plant, effluent treatment plant, firefighting system, residential building for workers (300 during construction and 270 during operations); storage tanks; two 4.3 Megawatt (MW) generators along with a Gas-fired boiler; electricity substation infrastructure; 1km 11kV distribution line, and on-site storage facilities for hexane and soyabean oil.
All the facilities will be located within the project land boundary. The closest community settlement from the project site is outside of the MEZ-II at a distance of 3 kms.

Soybean will be imported from Brazil, Argentina, and Canada; phosphoric acid (from China); caustic soda (supplied by Samuda Chemical Complex Limited, a sister organization), and hexane from Super Petrochemical Ltd. (Super Petro, a sister organization). All the raw materials (except for soyabean) will be transported by road. The soybean will be transferred from larger ships/vessels to smaller vessels in the outer anchorage area near Chattogram (17 nautical miles from the project site) and unloaded through cranes on the jetty and transferred by conveyor belts to the plant for storing and processing.
Raw materials viz. soya seed will be stored in 7 silos; hexane will be stored in three underground tanks; phosphoric acid will be stored in separate chemical shed, and caustic soda in 1 tank. Finished products will be stored in onsite storage facilities. The finished products will be transported through tankers (oil) and trucks (soya bean cakes).

As stated by the IFC, the sponsors include Mr. Mohammad Mustafa Haider, Ms. Farzana Afroze, and Ms. Rizwana Afroze.

Samuda Food Products Ltd. is part of Samuda Chemical Complex Limited, a sister concern of T.K. Group.
As stated on the company's website, Samuda Chemical Complex Limited (SCCL) is a private limited company owned by Mohammad Abul Kalam, Farzana Afroze, Mohammad Mustafa Haider, Rizwana Afroze. SCCL was incorporated in 2006 in Bangladesh under the Companies Act, 1994 and has an authorized capital of BDT 5,000,000,000. It is the largest caustic soda and hydrogen peroxide plant at present in Bangladesh.

As stated on the company's website, T.K. Group was founded by two brothers, Mohammed Abu Tayab and Mohammad Abul Kalam, in 1972. Today, T.K. Group is one of the biggest conglomerates of Bangladesh.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: +1 202-473-3800
Fax: +1 202-974-4384

Client - Samuda Food Products Ltd.:

Mohammad Akramuzzaman - Chief Financial Officer
Phone: +880 1730357069
Email: ma.zaman@scclbd.com
Address: Samdua Group, 9th Floor, TK Bhaban, 13 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215

Local access for project documentation:

Samdua Group, 9th Floor, TK Bhaban, 13 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215

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