Seafood Import Slides by 12% on New Forex Policy

Seafood import from Norway to Nigeria has dipped by 12 per cent as a result of the restrictive import quota measure introduced by the Federal Government.

Since the Nigerian government placed a structured embargo on import quotas, Norwegian seafood imports into the country including, herring, mackerel, horse mackerel, and blue whiting recorded huge decline, U. K based, Undercurrent News reports.

Although analysts are of the opinion that recent flexible policy introduced by the apex bank would ease pressure on the nation’s currency, a market analyst with Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), Paul Aandahl, said there was still evidence aplenty to suggest Nigeria is still not open for business.

With the naira, which has fallen to an almost record-low of N292.50 to the US dollar, as of July 18, Aandahl said, “more and bigger import quotas will not solve the problem. Fish must be out of the CBN list to get access to USD to a lowest possible price.”

Fish traders operating in the country currently face curbs on dollar funding for imports, with the Nigerian central bank restricting importers from using the foreign-exchange market for some goods including fish.