Bags of rice
VESSELS carrying about 83,600 metric tonnes of rice, worth N13.7bn have arrived at the Lagos port, ahead of Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the consignments, amounting to 1.67 million bags of rice, came in through ENL Terminal of the Apapa Port.
Details of the vessels showed that Oriental Bridge brought in 17,100mt of rice, Carmen Silva, 22,900mt; Stella Fomalhaut, 19,500mt; Comatce Starkipelo, 7500mt while Atlantic Dream vessel delivered 16,600mt.
About 32,400mt of rice amounting to N5.3bn came in through Apapa Port in September 2010, signifying an increase of 51,200mt of import, which translates into N8.3bn worth of rice.
The increase, it was gathered, was in connection with the Sallah and the forthcoming Christmas festivals. A bag of rice currently goes for N8, 200 in the market.
The Federal Government was said to have recently granted a duty waiver to an importer to bring more than 500,000 tonnes of rice into the country. But stakeholders in the rice sector lamented that the decision was not favourable to local production as it would kill their investment in rice plantations.
The Rice Importers, Millers, Distributors and Dealers Association of Nigeria had also said that the huge resources already expended on rice processing by local farmers were in serious jeopardy as such farmers would not be able to sell competitively.
One of the major exporters of rice to Nigeria, the Peoples Republic of Thailand, recently disclosed moves to further explore the Nigerian market during a visit by a business delegation to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council.
Read more:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011152213982
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