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Nigeria Receives First Brown Rice Shipment in Decade to Combat Food Inflation, Logistics Firm Says

15:20, 12 January 2025

Elizaveta Roschina

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To address rising food inflation, the Nigerian government approved last July a 150-day duty-free import of maize, husked brown rice and wheat, with projections to import 250,000 tonnes of wheat and maize to replenish the country's strategic grain reserve. Other policy plans included a guaranteed minimum price and increased smallholder production.

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Nigeria received the first shipment of brown rice in a decade to combat rising food inflation, Adrian Beciri, CEO of DUCAT, the logistics company that handled the shipment, said in a statement obtained by a Western media outlet.

A 32,000-tonne consignment of brown rice arrived in Lagos, a port city in south-western Nigeria, from Thailand, the DUCAT CEO noted.

The shipment follows a government tariff moratorium on various food crops, including rice, adopted last year.

"Nigeria has been working hard to find solutions to broaden and strengthen its food supply accessibility," Beciri noted in the statement.

However, while the duty waiver aims to improve food accessibility in Nigeria, purchases have reportedly remained limited due to concerns about impacting local producers.

Despite the authorities' actions, food costs remain high, as in November 2024, food inflation rose to 39.93%, up from 32.84% in the same period last year, Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics pointed out in its latest Consumer Price Index report.