China’s Hunt for Sorghum Boosts Nigeria Prospects

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As the United States and China trade war heats up, Chinese are now demanding for Nigeria’s sorghum and soybeans. Since the imposition of a temporary tariff on US imports by the Chinese government, China’s importers of US grains such as sorghum and soybeans have begun looking at other markets for the importation of the crops. Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development while highlighting the opportunities in Nigeria’s agricultural sector during the recent BusinessDay’s Agribusiness conference held in Lagos, said that the China’s government is now making a demand for Nigeria’s soybeans and sorghum. “As a result of the trade war between the US/China, the Chinese are requesting for 2,000 tons of soybeans and sorghum,” Ogbeh said. Nigeria is a natural habitat for many varieties of sorghum and the world’s second largest producer and supplier of the crop, churning out 11 million metric tons per annum while demand is put at 12.5 million MT, leaving a gap of 1.5 million MT, according to data obtained from the Federal Ministry Agriculture. Similarly, Nigeria is the largest producer of soybeans in sub-Saharan Africa with a production of 750,000 metric tons per annum. Like shea nuts, sorghum and soybeans have the potentials to be a huge export earner for the country, but years of low investment, lack of government support and natural vagaries has limited these huge potentials. “This will open up opportunities for our export to China because the major export to China from the US are agricultural commodities,” Muda Yusuf , director general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said in a telephone response to BusinessDay questions. “Since China is now taking a retaliation action in terms of trade against the US, it is likely to affect more of agricultural export from US to China. This would create a gap in the Chinese market for agricultural imports, and this will create opportunities for a country like Nigeria to take advantage to fill the gap that is being created. “What is important for Nigeria now in all of this is to be able to deliver the right kind of quality and price for the commodities since we would be competing with our producing nations also eyeing the Chinese market. We need to position ourselves properly to take advantage of the opportunity,” Yusuf said. Sorghum an important cereal crop is fast booming in the Nigerian market as brewers in the country are now using a larger percentage of the crop in place of barley for brewing beer and malt drinks. As a result, brewers are making huge investment in sorghum plants in the country owing to their hunt for local substitutes. Also, Nigeria’s soybeans production has been on the rise owing to huge investments in the production of the crop, as it serves as the richest and cheapest means of protein for humans as well as for animals in the country. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that a total of N14.2 billion worth of soybeans was exported in 2017.