At least, N299.6bn of palm oil was imported by Nigeria from 2017 to 2022 despite the product being on the June 2015 list of import items not valid for allocation of foreign exchange by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), an analysis of Nigeria’s Foreign Trade by Daily Trust has revealed.

With the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report indicating that the product itemed ‘Palm Crude Oil’ is often among the top five imported agricultural products into the country, analysis shows that palm oil was imported more in 2021 at N148.2bn, followed by 2022 with N70.2bn and 2018 with N32.2bn. In 2020, N22.bn of the product was imported while in 2017, N21.2bn and 2019 had the least importation with N19bn.

And Malaysia topped the list of nations where palm oil was imported from by Nigeria within the period at N151.5bn, followed by India – N65.2bn, Ivory Coast – N22.4bn, China – N20.3bn, Singapore -N20.6bn, Indonesia – N17.1bn, Columbia – N1.4bn, United States – N727m, Ghana – N130.6m and Cameroon – N4.26m.

Yet, in the 1950s and 1960s, oil palm farming was a key sector of the Nigerian economy, which generated about 43 per cent of the world’s total production. Nigeria was a leader in the world palm oil market then, as it satisfied both domestic and export needs.

Thailand occupies 3rd position while Colombia in South America is 4th. Nigeria occupies the 5th position with 1.5% or 1.03 million metric tons of the world’s total output, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

But with local consumption at 2.7 million metric tons (MT) per annum, that leaves an estimated demand-supply gap of about 1.4MT, which is being augmented through imports.

This should not be as oil palm is native to West Africa and is endemic to Nigeria. The decline in its production began during the civil war when it plummeted as the largest global exporting country at the beginning of the 20th Century to 36.4% of global supply in 1969 and 13.2% in 1974. Since then, domestic consumption has increased while slow growth in palm oil production and low output have been prevalent.

This is very unfortunate because the product is in high demand across the world. And export of palm oil could compete with crude oil as a major foreign exchange earner. After all, a barrel of palm oil sells for over $600 while the current price of WTI crude oil as of April 10, 2023, is $80.74 per barrel.

And palm oil can grow the local industry as oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil, edible oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil, which is used in foods and for soap manufacture) and many processed foods like biscuits, chocolates, cookies, sweets, cream for coffee or peanut butter among others.

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Source: Daily Trust