By PROVIDENCE OBUH
Bilateral trade between Nigeria and Brazil recorded an overall balance of $9.6 billion (N1.5 trillion) in 2011.
Speaking at the Nigerian Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NBCCI) 3rd anniversary cocktail in Lagos, President of the chamber, Mr. Emmanuel Ibru said that the bilateral trade has all along been in favour of Nigeria, mainly because of the value of its crude oil export to the country.
Ibru said, “The total figure of bilateral trade between Nigeria and Brazil for 2011 stood at $9.6 billion. Nigerian import from Brazil was $1.2 billion while her export to Brazil was $8.4 billion.”
To correct the unfavorable trade balance against Brazil, he emphasized the need for increased trade between the two countries to achieve a reasonable balance of trade.
According to him, “There is a big potential for the flow of goods and services from Brazil and there is again, the question of making information available to the business community here in Nigeria of what is available in brazil that Nigerians require. Also, Brazilians have a lot of manufacturing and agricultural expertise, they can also export to Nigeria not just the finished product but they can also export the technical expertise to come and help Nigeria set up businesses over here.
“Another thing is joint venture between Nigerian and Brazilian companies. A situation where we are producing here and exporting to Brazil, and then creating employment in Nigeria and the Nigerian economy is getting an advantage not just from there but from the sale of the goods over there.
“They should give Nigerian manufacturers the enabling environment to produce our goods with a comparative advantage and you find that they require a lot of things, the oil is obvious. If there is a comparative advantage we can attract Brazilian companies to come over here and manufacture here, with that it becomes a two-way thing and not we pushing oil over there.”
He added that the Brazilians should consider setting up companies in Nigeria, a huge market that will not only serve the Nigerians but the West African sub-region in general.
On the challenges of the chamber, he lamented that the major challenge of the chamber is the incapability of a direct air link between Nigeria and Brazil, saying, “To get to Brazil from Nigeria is very difficult, so this is challenging in terms of cost, and in terms of travel.
The Brazilians come from a different culture, they are Portuguese speaking, so they don’t know much about the Nigerian market being an Anglophone market, so when you go to them to talk to them how important it is to come here and establish they are a little bit worried and disturbed because they don’t know the market.”
Nigeria is the second largest trade partner of Brazil in Sub-Saharan Africa and 11th in the world. Brazil is the third largest importer of Nigerian crude oil after USA and India. Brazil’s key industries include textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, agriculture, motor vehicles and parts, other are machineries and equipment.
“Major export products include aircraft, coffee, vehicles, soybean, sugar, rice, orange juice, iron ore, steel, textiles, footwear, electrical equipment and others. Brazil’s current account surpluses had continued to hit record levels, indicating that exports were growing strongly.”
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