By Damilola Aina
Nigeria’s palm oil imports from Malaysia, a leading global producer, increased by 65.3 per cent in the first nine months of 2023.
Data obtained by our correspondent from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council revealed that the country’s palm oil import from Malaysia increased to 234,324 metric tons between January to September 2023, from 141, 786 MT in the corresponding period of 2022, indicating an increase of 92,538 MT.
The report also listed India, China, Kenya, Netherlands, Japan, and Turkey as its top 10 major importers.
To boost local crude palm oil production, the Federal Government imposed a 35 per cent tariff (10 per cent duty and 25 per cent levy) on palm oil imports into the country as measures to protect the country’s palm oil industry and spur industry growth.
Despite this, Nigerians had continued to prefer the importation of palm oil rather than locally produced products, owing to the huge demand-supply gap.
Nigeria’s palm oil output was estimated at 900,000-1.3 million MT, experts said. Import was estimated at over N500bn annually. With a national demand of 2.1 million MT, the supply gap was around 800,000 MT.
In an earlier report by The PUNCH, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, said that Nigeria had yet to achieve food sufficiency.
