Nigeria’s Agricultural Imports Peak at N727.3bn

Last updated May 28, 2021

Nigeria’s total trade in agricultural equipment and merchandise imported from the United States between October 2020 and March 2021 has culminated to a total value of N727.3billion.

Tractors, soybeans, intermediate food products, condiments and sauces, processed vegetables, corn, dairy products, fish products among others are some of the goods exported to Nigeria.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Nanono, recently disclosed that the Federal Government planned to acquire 60,000 tractors and equipment to boost the nation’s agro-economy.

He said that the proposed 60,000 tractors would drive agric mechanisation that would revolutionise the sector across various value chains.

imports increased as demand for farm equipment and products was in short supply in Nigeria.

The International Trade Administration (ITA), in a report, showed that the agricultural tractor market was growing steadily and expected to maintain a year-over-year rate of 4.4 percent between 2019 and 2024.

ITA noted that in 2018, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with John Deere for the supply of 10,000 units of farm tractors over five years.

According to ITA, agricultural tractors imported as Complete Knock Down (CKD) or Semi Knock Down (SKD) units for local assembly attracted zero duties and zero Value-Added Tax (VAT). Used tractors were surcharged 35 percent import duty and 7.5 percent VAT.

Data from the United States Census Bureau (USCB) on foreign trade between Nigeria and United States shows that in the last three months of 2020, Nigeria imported goods valued at $657million which include goods worth $233.1 million in October, $248.8 million in November, and $175.4 million in December.

As reported by USCB, Nigeria took delivery of $890.5 million worth of imports between January and March of 2021. It however noted that Nigeria exported $1.07 billion worth of goods during the period, noting that export by Nigeria to the United States increased by 56.03 percent from the $383.5 million recorded between October and December, 2020 to $684.5 million between January and March, 2021.

Major food exports from Nigeria to the United States include cocoa, grains, tea and herbal products, feeds and fodders, cashew and tree nuts, spices and seafood products etc.