Nigeria spent $375 bn on wheat import

Nigeria spent N331.76 billion ($375,3 bn) importing wheat, N157.34 billion ($178 bn) importing sugar, and N50.78 billion ($57,4 bn) importing fish; totalling N539.88 billion for the three food items in the third quarter of 2023, BusinessDay’s analysis shows.

According to the Q3 2023 foreign trade report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 83.87 percent of the country’s agric import value (N643.68 billion) was dedicated to the importation of durum wheat, cane sugar, mackerel and other fish.

“The major agriculture goods imported in Q3, 2023 included ‘Durum wheat (not in seeds)’ from Poland with N90.46 billion and Canada with N73.03 billion.

“This was followed by ‘Mackerel (Scomber scombrus, Scomber australasicus, Scomber japonicus) meat, frozen.’ from Faroe Islands valued at N16.35 billion,” the NBS said.

Wheat

A total of N331.76 billion was used to import durum wheat into the country in the third quarter of 2023, making it the country’s highest imported food item.

Wheat is the third most imported item in the country after petrol and gas oil, accounting for 3.9 percent of the total value of goods imported into the country.

Durum wheat is a variety of spring wheat that is typically ground into semolina and used to make pasta. It is also finely ground and used to prepare couscous, bulgur, noodles, and bread.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, wheat is the third most widely consumed grain in the country after maize and rice.

Tags: imports, Nigeria, wheat