The Nigerian central bank said on social media Friday that the country will no longer provide foreign currency to importers of sugar and wheat as it tries to conserve dollar reserves.
"Sugar and wheat to go into our FX restriction list. We must work together to produce these items in Nigeria rather than import them," the central bank said in a tweet, according to Reuters. The mention of the FX restriction list refers to an action in 2015 which they restricted foreign exchange access for 41 items that could be produced locally and they have added products to that list over time.
However, they have altered the policy at times. They banned access to foreign exchange for dairy imports and ordered lenders to stop offering credit to milk importers in a bid to spur domestic production. However, they later lifted the foreign exchange restrictions for six firms to import milk after businesses complained.
USDA export sales data shows that Nigeria has been either the second or third largest importer of U.S. wheat since the 2015-16 marketing year, taking in anywhere from 836,200 metric tons to 1.09 million metric tons. Through the week ended April 8, U.S. wheat export commitments to Nigeria total 1.39 mmt, with only 250,000 mt of that business yet to be shipped. For 2021-22, Nigeria has booked 168,000 mt of U.S. wheat.