India, Thailand Affected by Border Closure
According Business Day reports which indicates that the shutdown of Nigeria’s land borders aimed at stemming the tides of smuggling of articles of merchandise particularly rice, has economically affected some rice-exporting countries.
According to the report, the price of the commodity drastically reduced by a joint 46 percent in less than one month in countries like Thailand and India. President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday, 21st August, 2019 issued a directive for border closure.
Between that period and September, the wholesale price of the broken parboiled rice, the species in top exporting countries fell on product glut leading a decline in exports. In India, the wholesale price dropped from $0.64/kg in August to $0.40/kg as at 30 September of this year. In Thailand, the price of the commodity declined by 9.2 percent in the review period. Data from both Thailand and India, which previously accounted for up to 90 percent of Nigeria’s rice imports, show legal imports to the country have declined at the same time.
However, there are great concerns that Nigerians may buy a 50kg bag of rice for as high as N50,000 in December 2019 if the federal government fails to rescind its decision.
Already, the risising price of rice by 86% to an all-time high of N27,000 per 50kg from N14,500 is an indication that local rice farmers currently lack the capacity to feed country.
