Nigeria imported more palm oil from Malaysia, the largest producer in the world, in the first nine months of 2023, up 65.3%.
According to The Punch, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council revealed that the country’s imports of palm oil from Malaysia climbed by 92,538 metric tones, from 141,786 MT in the same period of 2022 to 234,324 MT between January and September of 2023.
Also included in the report’s top ten list of major importers were India, China, Kenya, Netherlands, Japan, and Turkey.
The Federal Government implemented steps to protect the country’s palm oil sector and promote industry expansion, including a 35 percent tariff (10% duty and 25% levy) on palm oil imports into the country in order to increase local crude palm oil production.
Despite this, Nigerians continued to favour imported palm oil over domestically produced goods due to the enormous demand-supply disparity.
Experts projected that Nigeria produced between 900,000 and 1.3 million MT of palm oil. Over N500 billion was thought to be imported annually with a 2.1 million MT national demand, the supply shortfall was roughly 800,000 MT.
The National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, claimed that Nigeria was yet to achieve food sufficiency of importers were Turkey, Japan, the Netherlands, China, Kenya, and India.
