Who We Are

Welcome to Somani Agro Exports Ltd, where we’ve been rocking the pulse game for over 50 years! Based in the vibrant city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, we are not just exporters; we are the pulse pioneers!

Our family business has been trading, processing, and exporting a dazzling array of pulses including Green Gram, Yellow Gram, Pigeon Peas, Kidney Beans, and Soya. We also sprinkle in some sesame seeds for good measure!

We pride ourselves on delivering top-notch quality and value-added packaging that meets the demands of international markets. If you’re looking for pulses that pack a punch, you’ve come to the right place!

SOMANI Agro Exports Limited (SAEL) is a leading agro commodity player in Tanzania. Its core business is the purchase, processing and packaging of pulses for export to international markets. Some of the company’s key products include Yellow Grams (Channa), Green Gram (Moong), Pigeon peas (Toor) and Sesame (Simsim). The commodities are collected on seasonal basis from local farmers and traders predominantly in Western Tanzania, the primary source for such pulses.

The products are stored, semi-cleaned and packaged for onward transport to Dar es Salaam, where SAEL’s main processing plant is situated. The commodities are processed, sorted by different sizes, colour, etc. to the specific requirements of the buyers, cleansed and treated (using approved Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) products) before packing. Packaging ranges from 10 – 50 kilogram bags depending on the export market requirements.

SAEL operates under EPZ regulations which stipulate 80% exportation of the targeted finished goods. SAEL’s key exports markets are currently South Africa, Canada and the GCC (Dubai and Qatar). 20% of Sael’s production is sold locally.

SAEL’s technical and professional expertise is derived from the experience of its Directors who have over 30 years in the agro commodity sector. The overall vision of SAEL is a holistic approach covering ethical business practices as well as promoting the lives of people who serve the company and the communities which serve them.

The mill is a state of the art processing facility of the approximate processing capacity of 2-3,000 Kg/hour of operation. The key machinery is the mill. A grader cum polisher has also been installed to realize the required quality, look, shine, and cleanliness of the processed legumes. Other equipment includes a sheller and splitter. The machinery and equipment have been procured from India and China.

SAEL has set up its processing plant at the Benjamin Mkapa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Dar-es-Salaam. The total area is around 5,500 square meters. This covers the machinery, equipment and related infrastructure of around 2,000 square meters and warehousing of 3,500 square meters, covering raw materials as well as finished products. Legume processing is a labor intensive activity. The machinery used is semi-automated.

The production of raw materials – yellow grams, pigeon peas, green gram and sesame has seasonal rotations.

Green Gram: Jan - May
Sesame: May - July
Pigeon Peas: Jun - Aug
Yellow Grams: July - Nov

SAEL’s raw material buying operation in Shinyanga currently employs 70 staff.

With growing international demand and capacity, SAEL expects to source pulses from Singida, Kagera, Mbeya and Arusha going forward.

PROCESSED FORM:
SAEL’S production capacity is around 1,500 MT per month. This translates to around 50-70 containers (each containing upto 24 MT) of finished goods on a monthly basis.

RAW FORM:
SAEL can superclean or produce raw form around 3000 MT per month, that is about 150 containers of 24MT each month.

In TOTAL the factory has capacity of over 60,000 MT a Year in both RAW and Processed forms combined.