Fish, Rice Imports Drop By 80% - Agriculture

Fish and rice imports through the nation’ seaports have dropped by over 80 per cent, the Seaport Terminal Operators of Nigeria has said.

The spokesperson of the terminal operators, Mr. Bolaji Akinola, made this known in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said the unfavourable government’s policies had caused importers to divert the importation of these products to Cotonou ports.

For instance, he said, “In 2010, about 112 ships of fish made up of 401,000 tonnes were handled at the Lagos Port Complex Apapa. This has been the highest volume since port concession.

“In 2013, this number reduced to 69 ships, representing a total of 220,000 tonnes of fish but from January 2014 to date, only 18 ships have been discharged with a total of 62,000 tonnes of fish. The decline is due to the quota system which became effective this year.”

The Federal Government had last year announced that fish imports would be banned in four years and the duty raised from 10 per cent to either 50 per cent or 100 per cent. The new system was said to be aimed at replacing imports with domestic production.

However, following a public outcry over the anticipated scarcity of fish, the import ban was in December 2013 replaced with a new policy to cut fish imports into the country by 25 per cent per year by introducing import quotas from January 2014.

The quota system is said to be aimed at reducing Nigeria’s frozen fish imports by 25 per cent and stopping the import of fish species such as catfish, tilapia and croaker that are produced in Nigeria through local aquaculture and capture fisheries.

Akinola said, “Even though the importation of fish through our ports has dropped, there is no scarcity of fish in the market. We now have a situation where importers are diverting their fish through Cotonou ports and then smuggle it into the country.

“It is the same situation that applies to rice imports. Annually, about two million metric tonnes of rice are handled at the ports. This volume has since fallen with the introduction of the 110 per cent import duty and levy on imported rice.

“In 2013, only 15 shiploads of rice were discharged at our ports; this amounted to 386,000 tonnes. From January to August 2014, the volume has remained very scanty – about 135,000 tonnes so far with only about seven ships coming into the ports.

“Yet when you go to the market, you see rice everywhere. While Nigeria is charging 10 per cent as import duty, another 100 per cent levy is imposed on rice, it is zero duty in Cotonou. This is the reason why our importers are patronising neighbouring ports, especially Cotonou, and then smuggle these goods into the country; Nigeria is losing.”

Akinola said terminal operators that specalised in bulk cargo operations such as rice and fish imports had been most hit by the policy.

He said that the terminal operators had since the port concession invested over $925m in improving infrastructure at the terminals.

Despite improving the level of port operations, he lamented that the port terminal operators were losing business.

He said though the volume of car imports which the Nigerian Ports Authority released in the first half of 2014 report was high, it would drop in the second half of the year.

A total of 154,846 vehicles reportedly imported in the first half of this year, which showed an increase of 16.5 per cent over the same period of 2013 with 132,930 vehicles.

He said, “What really happened was that some car importers in anticipation of the new auto policy had imported many vehicles; I know of a company that imported about 10,000 units. That is why the volume was high for the first half of 2014.

“Now that the auto policy has come to stay, its effect would be felt in the NPA’s second half 2014 report because importers are already diverting vehicle imports through Cotonou.”

http://www.punchng.com/business/maritime/fish-rice-imports-drop-by-80/