Nigeria’s crude palm oil imports from Ma laysia – second largest grower of the crop has declined by 24 percent in the first three months of 2020 amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) show.
On a year- on- year basis, Nigeria’s crude palm oil ( CPO) imports from Malaysia decreased from 102,685 metric tons (MT) in 2019 to 78,529MT in the first three months of 2020, indicating a 24,156MT reduction in volume for the period.
Experts say the sharp drop in the volume of importation can be attributed to the obstruction in the global supply chain triggered by the novel coronavirus which has negatively impacted international trade.
Since the novel coronav i rus was first discovered in Wuhan China, global trade has been brought to a standstill as countries introduced lockdown and quarantine measures to curb the spread of the virus.
The data from the MPOC shows that total Malaysian palm oil export for the period declined by 25percent as factories using CPO as raw materials shut down production, forcing prices of the product to drop at the international market.
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Africa’s most populous nation’s crude palm oil is less competitive to the imported ones owing to the high production cost, infrastructural gaps, and high logistic cost among others.
Owing to this local manufacturers have resort to importing CPO rather than patronising local producers despite an increase in production in recent years.
Also, to bridge the demand- supply gap, as the country population continues to rise rapidly with the production of CPO not moving in the same trajectory.
“Nigeria has significantly increased its production in the last 10 years but is still importing a lot of CPO into the country,” Fatai Afolabi, executive secretary, Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria (POFON), said in a statement.
Since losing its position as one of the world’s largest palm oil producers, Nigeria is yet to recover and take its proper place in the comity of crude palm oil producing nations owing to the discovery of oil, which changed the country’s palm oil narrative of the 60s.
As a result, Indonesia and Malaysia have surpassed Nigeria’s production, becoming the global leaders in oil palm production.
To curb large volume importation of CPO, the government in 2016 included it on a list of items restricted from FX.
The Federal Government introduced measures last year to further boost local production and ensure the country attain selfsufficiency in palm production.
He n r y Olatujoye, former national president, National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria ( NPPAN), stated that the inability of the government to provide a reliable data for the industry has remained a major problem for the industry.
He called on the government to provide reliable data for the industry to create effective planning and efficient implementation of programmes for palm oil production in the country.
Oil palm has the capacity to produce more oil than any other oilseed crop. About 90 percent of palm oil is used in the production of foods, while the remaining 10 percent is used by the non-foods industry, industry players say.
Foods like noodles, vegetable oil, biscuits, chips, margarines, shortenings, cereals, baked stuff, washing detergents, and even cosmetics are made from palm oil.
