Nigeria, Taiwan Trade Volume Hit $500m in 2023

Gilbert Ekugbe and Ugo Aliogo

The Chief of Mission the Taiwan Government in Nigeria, Andy Liu, yesterday, stated that the trade volume between Nigeria and Taiwan stood at $500 million in 2023.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2024 Taiwan Business Forum in Nigeria, he stated that the trade volume declined from $1 billion in 2021, to $500 million after imports from Nigeria matched Taiwan’s demand for imported agricultural products from Nigeria.

According to him, Taiwan was a net importer of Nigeria’s agricultural products especially sesame seeds, maintaining that despite the decline in trade volume, Nigeria still remained a destination for Taiwanese businesses.

In his words, “The highest peak of trade reached about $1 billion in 2021. It was the peak of the COVID 19 with Nigerian enjoying a trade surplus trading with Taiwan. We imported more of Nigeria’s agricultural products such as sesame beside from oil related products.

“In 2021, we had a huge demand for agriculture products for our food processing industries.”

“In 2022, the trade declined because the provider of the Nigerian food products had already matched our demand, so from 2022 to 2023, we experienced a declined to about $500 million which is still a great value because the both countries are still trading so we might see some level of increase in the nearest future,” he assured.

He bemoaned the high level of adulteration of Taiwanese products, saying Taiwan has been suffering all kinds of counterfeit and piracy all over the world.

He stated that to address the challenge, the Taiwanese government had been sending delegates to different parts of the world to showcase the quality of Taiwanese products.

“We have been having our delegates visiting the world to prove that we are victims of piracy, but we are going to use the platform to show that we have good and quality products so as to let the world know who are true providers of these quality goods. “We are very glad to come to Nigeria to demonstrate who is the true owner of quality brands, the most unfortunate thing is that counterfeiters always come to different countries and run away when they have made their profits, but our suppliers would stay to provide good quality products, but also provide after sale services,” he said.

“We are here to provide our services and also guarantee the quality of our products,” he assured.

Also speaking, President, Globe Industries Corporation, David Hwang, blamed the influx of counterfeited products from China for the decline of profit margins.

“Our businesses are going down because of counterfeited products. We found out that these adulterated products are cheaper than the original products and this is hitting deep into our profit margins.

“We are here to find partners so that we can do business in a different way that will benefit both international and local businesses,” he said.

On his part, the Director General, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Sola Obadimu, said one key attribute about Taiwan was that they were focused on African businesses, assuring that that the quality of their products was guaranteed.

He assured that NACCIMA would continue to work with Taiwanese companies to drive business growth for both countries.

“We will continue to interact with Taiwanese companies while we would also work behind the scenes,” he assured.