Nigeria: Grain and Feed Update
Nigeria’s wheat demand continues to rise and is attracting more third-country suppliers of inexpensive wheat. Imports for 2013/2014 have been adjusted to 4.55 million metric tons as compared to 4.21 reported in the annual edition of this report. Imports for 2014/2015 are projected at 4.75 million metric tons and the U.S wheat exports are expected to exceed 2.7 million metric tons in 2014/2015. Levies on imported rice have also been introduced and incentives extended to investors in local rice production/processing to fill market gap. Domestic rice production/processing have shown some increases but they are insufficient to feed the mills and demand for rice continues to rise. Rice imports are expected to contribute more than half of total supply in MY2014/2015. These are fueling informal cross-border rice trade and loss of revenue to Nigerian government (GON). Demand for other grains such as corn, sorghum, millet, etc. also remains high and no significant changes have been recorded since the last report.