Foreign Exchange Restrictions: Manufacturers Decry Scarcity of Raw Materials
Manufacturers of tomato paste products in Nigeria have decried the shortage of the triple concentrate tomato paste a major ingredient in the production of tomato paste in the Nigerian market.
The manufacturers blamed the shortage of the triple concentrate used in the production of packed tomato paste, on the listing of triple concentrate among the 41 items banned from accessing foreign exchange from the official window by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This CBN’s import restrictions policy, Thisday reported, has made it impossible for firms to import tomato concentrate which in turn is having an adverse effect on the production of the product.
According to a manufacturer in the Agro allied processing industry, Mr. Isaac Adewunmi, “Triple concentrate is produced for industrial use for further reprocessing and packing before consumption. Presently, not a single company in Nigeria produces triple concentrate which leaves a huge vacuum of 150, 000 metric tons (MT) in the market. Hence this raw material is imported for reprocessing and packaging for subsequent consumption.”
Industry sources told THISDAY that the tomato industry is one of the sub-sectors where Nigeria is highly advantaged. Nigeria is ranked second largest producer of tomato in Africa and 13th largest in the world, producing 1.701 million tons of tomato annually at an average of 25-30 tons per hectare, all of which remains insufficient to sustain the Tomato paste industry in Nigeria.
Also confirming the concerns raised by the Tomato paste manufacturers, the President, National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees, Lateef Oyelekan, said: “The companies involved should be given the latitude to plan for backward integration as one of the downside of the policy is that it could lead to massive job losses, as an estimated 100, 000 jobs are likely to be lost in the tomato process manufacturing sector. The jobs of the workers are at stake unless the ban is reversed, and the opportunity for backward integration would be lost by the affected companies.”
The manufactures therefore, called on the government to give them adequate time to allow for the completion of backward integrations programmes and also provide support in form of land, low interest loans, irrigation facility, technical and infrastructural support.
They also called on the federal government to address the issue of post-harvest wastage emanating from inadequate storage and the absence of processing facilities and the development of agro-allied industry.
Posted by Janice Johnson
