Exporters Lament Drop in Produce Prices

• Exporters Lament Drop in Produce Prices

Falling agro exports prices, despite the rise in cocoa prices, is giving stakeholders concerns. Cocoa price has continued its bullish trend, hitting more than $2,000 per tonne.

On March 8, cocoa price was $2504 at the New York futures, while the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) price was $2489.36.

Notwithstanding, the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association (FACAN) President, Dr. Victor Iyama, said farmers were confronting falling prices of key agricultural commodities, such as ginger, because of fresh supplies from other countries.

He said ginger price had fallen to $980 per tonne, stating that the price plunged because exports to Asia had slowed due to surplus production there. Increased output from other regions, specifically China, has also resulted to a glut of the product in the market.

Between last year and this year, demand for ginger also endured significant ups and downs.

He said despite increased local production, farmers might get less than they bargained for.

A member of the Nigerian-Vietnam Business Association, Mr Sunny Anjorin, said the price of dried ones coming from Nigeria had plummeted.

Before now, prices in China reached $3,000. It was estimated that total production in China would be about 15,000 tonnes, but now export traders re-estimated production to the tune of 20,000 -25,000 tonnes. He explained that China was investing in massive ginger production.

According to him, China is a real threat to Nigeria as they offer the produce at the lowest price level in the global market. He complained that stored ginger was rotting due to lack of market. He explained that global producers of ginger were harvesting.

For example, the domestic price of ginger in Kaduna has dropped from N280,000 per tonne to N240,000.

India is the world’s largest producer of ginger, with an estimated 799,860 tonnes from 1,53,450 hectares (ha) in 2015 and 16, according to statistics.

However, in terms of area, Nigeria and China are at the top. India and China contribute almost 50 per cent of world ginger production.

Experts said the Nigeria and China gimger’s low rates in the international market were impacting the Indian ginger exports.

With the unstable price of cashew nut in the global market, he advised Nigerians to produce more highly-processed products.

He said the price of cashew nut exports may not remain stable. He urged the sector to focus on improving the product quality, processing technique and domestic market development.