With the previous government setting 2023 as the year the importation of milk will end, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that at least N72.9 billion worth of the product was imported in 2022.
The report titled: “Foreign Trade Statistics”, notes that N27.6bn worth of the commodity was imported in the first quarter of the year, followed by N21.3bn in the second quarter and N23.9bn in the third quarter, while the data for the fourth quarter was not available as the product did not make it into the top five imported raw material products.
The report added that the commodity termed, “Milk preparations containing vegetable fats/oils, powdered/granular, packings greater than 25kg” was mostly imported from the Republic of Ireland (N44.7bn), Malaysia (N15.8bn) and Germany (N5.6bn).
Recall that the federal government had made its intention known to increase the 672 million litres of milk produced in the country annually which falls short of the 1.6 billion litres consumed, translating to about a 60 percent shortfall. To implement this, the government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restricted access to foreign exchange (forex) for importers of milk products in order to develop the sector. – DAILY TRUST
