Crude palm oil imports soar 487% on rising demand

Nigeria’s crude palm oil imports rose 486.94 per cent year-on-year to N91.62bn in the first half of 2026, highlighting the widening gap between domestic production and industrial demand.

 Data from the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade in Goods report showed that the country spent N91.62bn on crude palm oil imports between January and June 2026, compared with N15.61bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.

 A breakdown of the figures showed that imports increased from N7.87bn in the first quarter of 2025 to N23.16bn in the first quarter of 2026. In the second quarter, the import bill surged from N7.74bn in 2025 to N68.46bn in 2026, representing a sharp increase in the country’s reliance on foreign supplies.

 The rising import bill comes amid concerns over Nigeria’s inability to meet domestic and industrial demand for crude palm oil, with industry operators estimating a supply deficit of about 1.5 million tonnes.

 In a phone interview with The PUNCH, the Chairman of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Agricultural and Allied Group, Tunde Banjoko, said the country continued to face a significant production shortfall, warning that increased imports would not address the underlying problem.

 “We still have a major deficit of almost 1.5 million tonnes thereabouts. We still have a deficit. I think I’d rather confirm, but I think it’s about 1.5 million tonnes. We are unable to meet our domestic and industrial demand. Importation is not the solution,” Banjoko said.

 He urged the government and private investors to channel more resources into expanding local production, particularly through the rehabilitation of ageing plantations and support for existing producers.

 Banjoko identified major industry players, including Okomu Oil Palm Company and Presco Plc, as well as other medium- and small-scale producers, as critical to closing the supply gap.

 He said some established plantations had become old and required regeneration to improve output, adding that investment in existing plantations and new production facilities would help the country achieve self-sufficiency.

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 “The solution should rather be investing more into the sector. Investing more, because some of our plantations are old and they need to be regenerated,” he said.

 Banjoko warned that continued dependence on imports could undermine efforts to attract investment into domestic palm oil production, particularly as local producers struggled to compete with imported supplies.

 “The more we import, the more we discourage investment. That’s one key thing in this conversation,” he added.

 Meanwhile, foreign interest in Nigeria’s palm oil market has continued to grow amid rising demand and the country’s supply shortfall.

 BusinessDay reported in May that the Malaysia Palm Oil Council was seeking to expand its presence in Nigeria, which it described as a key market for Malaysian palm oil exports.

 The Chief Executive Officer of the council, Belvinder Sron, disclosed this at the Malaysia Market Connect in Lagos, saying the country still had considerable room for increased palm oil and palm product exports.

 “We see there’s still room to expand the exports of palm or palm products into this country. Nigeria is a key market for Malaysian palm oil, with exports totalling 300,000 metric tonnes last year,” Sron said.

 She added that Nigeria offered significant growth opportunities for Malaysian palm oil exporters.

 The development underscores the pressure on Nigeria’s domestic palm oil industry to expand production and improve plantation yields as rising demand and import dependence expose the country’s supply deficit.