About 6.7 million bags of rice have been ordered mainly from Thailand for the Christmas and New Year festivities in Nigeria.
Already, 13 vessels conveying the imported rice, whose market value is put at N60.37bn, have arrived at the Lagos Port, going by the latest reports from the Nigerian Ports Authority’s shipping position.
The rice is currently being sold at an average price of N9,000 per 50kg bag.
The most recent statistics from the NPA showed that a total of 335,409 metric tonnes of rice would be delivered at the seaports for the season.
While the latest report indicated that all the 13 vessels had been delivered at the port, about four of the rice ships, with a total of 133,200 metric tonnes, were awaiting berth at the Lagos Pilotage District.
Two months ago, traders imported over five million bags of rice worth N46.6bn for the last Muslim festival, Eid-il Kabir, and they were delivered within one month.
Many corporate firms often offer bags of rice along with other items as end of the year’s gifts to their customers and members of staff.
This explains the high volume of rice being sold at this period of the year.
Nigeria is said to spend N106bn annually on the importation of rice from Thailand alone.
The Chief Executive Officer, Chareon Pokphand of Thailand, Mr. Prasit Damrongshitama, confirmed the amount recently when he led a team of Thai businessmen on a visit to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council in Abuja.
According to him, Nigeria is the second largest importer of Thai rice in Africa.
The rice importers have two more years to bring in the Thai and other foreign brands of rice as the Federal Government has announced plans to stop the rice importation in 2014.
The Minister of Trade and Investments, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, who made the announcement at a forum in Ado-Ekiti, said the move was to encourage local production of rice.
He said Nigeria had not attained food sufficiency despite having a minimum of 80 million hectares of cultivable land.
Although Nigeria is regarded as the largest producer of rice in West Africa, traders have continued to embark on massive importation of the food item.
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About 6.7 million bags of rice have been ordered mainly from Thailand for the Christmas and New Year festivities in Nigeria.
Already, 13 vessels conveying the imported rice, whose market value is put at N60.37bn, have arrived at the Lagos Port, going by the latest reports from the Nigerian Ports Authority’s shipping position.
The rice is currently being sold at an average price of N9,000 per 50kg bag.
The most recent statistics from the NPA showed that a total of 335,409 metric tonnes of rice would be delivered at the seaports for the season.
While the latest report indicated that all the 13 vessels had been delivered at the port, about four of the rice ships, with a total of 133,200 metric tonnes, were awaiting berth at the Lagos Pilotage District.
Two months ago, traders imported over five million bags of rice worth N46.6bn for the last Muslim festival, Eid-il Kabir, and they were delivered within one month.
Many corporate firms often offer bags of rice along with other items as end of the year’s gifts to their customers and members of staff.
This explains the high volume of rice being sold at this period of the year.
Nigeria is said to spend N106bn annually on the importation of rice from Thailand alone.
The Chief Executive Officer, Chareon Pokphand of Thailand, Mr. Prasit Damrongshitama, confirmed the amount recently when he led a team of Thai businessmen on a visit to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council in Abuja.
According to him, Nigeria is the second largest importer of Thai rice in Africa.
The rice importers have two more years to bring in the Thai and other foreign brands of rice as the Federal Government has announced plans to stop the rice importation in 2014.
The Minister of Trade and Investments, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, who made the announcement at a forum in Ado-Ekiti, said the move was to encourage local production of rice.
He said Nigeria had not attained food sufficiency despite having a minimum of 80 million hectares of cultivable land.
Although Nigeria is regarded as the largest producer of rice in West Africa, traders have continued to embark on massive importation of the food item.
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