Amid Restriction: $900m Foreign Rice Hits Nigerian Markets

Despite government’s restriction on importation of parboiled rice, two million tonnes of the produce valued at N441 billion ($900 million) are currently contending with Nigerian local variety in the market. Benin Republic,
 
Nigeria’s closest neighbour, provides easy turf for smugglers to move things into the country. Ironically, most citizens of the former French colony do not consume parboiled rice, which arrives the country en route Nigeria in large quantities. In 2020, a total of 1.56 million tonnes of the grain valued at N350 billion ($780 million) were smuggled to Nigeria’s neighbouring ports, according to a data by Index Mundi, a global trade portal on import and export.
 
Although, Thailand Rice Exporters Association (TREA) lost 1.2 million tonnes of rice valued at $819.6 million in Nigerian market in 2019, following import restriction by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria is still facing two million deficit of the grain as local consumption has reached seven million tonnes…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/amid-restriction-n441bn-foreign-rice-hits-nigerian-markets/