LAGOS, NIGERIA — BUA Foods PLC, a Nigerian food manufacturer, plans to expand pasta production by 400,000 tonnes per year at its plant in Nigeria. The addition of nine lines of long cut pasta is expected to boost annual production to 900,000 tonnes from 500,000 tonnes, the company said.

“Our manufacturing capacity expansion will continue to enable us extend the boundaries of what we can produce and deliver, supporting our nation’s development by providing solutions to ongoing food shortages,” said Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Foods. “In addition to producing more pasta, we’ll be able to introduce new innovations to support mixed volume growth, while consistently delivering the unrivaled product quality our customers expect.”

BUA Foods said it has signed an agreement with Cento, Italy-based Fava SpA to supply the manufacturing equipment for the expansion.

Additionally, BUA Foods is working with Padua, Italy-based Martini srl to supply packaging equipment for the plant. Earlier, BUA Foods inked an agreement with Adana, Turkey-based Cukurova Silo to increase its grain storage capacity by 100,000 tonnes.

“The additional 100,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity will enable us to meet the growing demand for our products while strengthening the backbone of our food processing operations by ensuring a reliable and consistent supply of raw materials,” Rabiu said.

In August, BUA Foods signed an agreement with Turkish flour milling equipment manufacturer Imas to build four new wheat flour mills with a total capacity of 3,200 tonnes per day.