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Nigeria’s Poultry Market: Can It Come Back?
By Ali Michael David
Since 1984, Nigeria’s import ban on corn has contributed to steadily declining poultry production.
But the Nigerian poultry market has seen prosperous times. For two decades after the country achieved independence in 1960, poultry production grew, peaking in 1982 with 40 million commercially reared birds.
Since then, the bird population has dipped steadily, reaching an estimated low of 6 million in 1997.
Since production figures for poultry are not maintained by the government, the only way to estimate the count is by the amount of feed sold. In 1997, an estimated 225,000 metric tons of commercial poultry feed was sold in the Nigerian market--down from 250,000 tons in 1995. The feed milling industry is only producing at about 15 percent of capacity.
This faltering market can be traced back to the early 1980s, when the Nigerian economy collapsed. An unstable government, import bans and intervention efforts by the World Bank caused price realignments that weakened purchasing power and pushed up the cost of poultry inputs and products.
Some Tariffs Reduced
In an effort to egg the industry on, tariffs on all premix components--vitamins, micro-nutrients and antibiotics--were reduced to 5 percent in 1995. But these reductions failed to stimulate production for one simple reason--domestic corn continues to sell at double international prices.
In early 1998, the government lifted bans on imports of barley and malt, which could eventually provide some price relief on corn. Corn currently retails for $250 per ton; prices may fall if barley malt begins to be used in the local brewing industry.
Also lifted in 1998 were import bans on day-old chicks, parent breeding stock and live, chilled or frozen poultry and eggs. But these poultry products face a stiff 150-percent duty.
Opportunities for U.S. Exporters
Despite the 150-percent duty, U.S. poultry may be able to compete within a few cents per pound with locally produced poultry meat.
However, consumers favor locally produced birds. Poultry meat
in Nigeria is mostly used for soups with long cooking times. Most
U.S. poultry meat is too tender to stand up to this sustained
boiling.
But opportunities abound for importing about 2 million day-old chicks and parent stock per year.
The crucial question--one that U.S. feedgrain producers and Nigerian poultry farmers would like to have answered--is when will the ban on imported corn be lifted?
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The author is an agricultural specialist with the Foreign
Agricultural Service’s Office of Agricultural Affairs in
Lagos, Nigeria. Tel.: (234-1) 261-0097; Fax: (234-1) 261-0257.
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