Business Today: Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) Exports N45bn Fish To Nigeria

Exporters under the umbrella of the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) have exported some stock fish and mackerel species valued at N45 billion ($32 million) to Nigeria in two months.. .. Read ..Full.. Article.. .

It was gathered that $10 million worth of fish was imported in July and $22 million in June 2025.

Currently, Nigeria needs about 67 per cent or 2.4 million metric tonnes of fish valued at $1.2 billion to support local production in 2025 as the country battles with access to quality fish feed and lack of modern farming techniques to produce more fish.

According to NSC, stockfish exports to Nigeria were made up the largest share of shipments, with heads being the largest product category, followed by whole dried fish and other by-products.

The council explained that Norway holds a 25 per cent market share for dried cod, 96 per cent for dried heads, and 20 per cent for other byproducts, saying that Italy, United States and Nigeria were the largest markets for stockfish in the first half of the year.

It noted that in the coming years cod product prices would rise due to lower quotas and Nigeria’s weak currency. The council said: “This will be a greater challenge for whole stockfish than for by-products, where species other than cod may have an advantage.

“For whole stockfish, the focus is on positioning so that Norway is ready when quotas increase and the market recovers.” In June, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)’s shipping position revealed that three vessels have berth to offload 40,137 tonnes in June, adding that African Atlan had arrived with 32,250 tonnes; Invincible, 4,601tonnes and Silver Bergen 3,286 tonnes.

Also, data from Volza on fish export to Nigerian market between 2023 and 2024 indicated that Chile made 556 shipments of fish from August 2023 to July 2024, noting that the exports were made by 88 exporters to 106 buyers in Nigeria.

It noted: “Within this period, in July 2024 alone, 70 other fish export shipments were made from Chile. This marks a year-on-year growth of 100 per cent compared to July 2023, and a 94 per cent sequential growth from June 2024.” It was learnt that local production is estimated at 33 per cent or 1.2 million metric tonnes of the growing demand of 3.6 million metric tonnes.

The large shortfall in local farming and dependence on imports, it was revealed, had affected government’s expenditure reserves, following inadequate infrastructure, high production costs, limited access to quality fish feed, and lack of modern farming techniques.

Recall that the Federal Government and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had unveiled a N200 million support initiative to boost aquaculture in Nigeria to help meet the country’s annual fish demand.

The Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Wellington Omoragbon, explained at the inauguration of Scaling Fish Farming (SFF) through Finance (Access to input finance under the FISH4ACP project), at Eriwe fish farming cluster in Odogbolu, Ogun State, saying that the initiative was aimed at promoting the sustainability of Nigeria’s fisheries resources.

Omoragbon, represented by a Director at the ministry, Mr Paul Opuama, lauded FAO and other development partners for supporting Nigeria to improve on its fish production capacity. He revealed that Nigeria, with its enormous water bodies, should be able to harness these resources to improve on fish production.

Omoragbon noted that challenge of access to finance, with reference to the skyrocketing cost of feeds, was a major difficulty that fish farmers had to battle with in the country. He stressed: “We know that one of the major challenges confronting the fish farmers is finance with skyrocketing price of feeds. But with partnership like this, we shall be able to support our farmers, and..  Read . .More