Nigeria is now open to a wide range of U.S. beef and pork products, reports the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). This marks a significant market access win for U.S. agriculture. While Nigeria previously accepted only a limited number of processed meat items, the USDA Export Library now states that U.S. red meat products can be exported to Nigeria unless they are specifically excluded.
Nigeria still does not accept beef or pork offal or bone-in hams. Smoked, dried and cured beef and pork products are also excluded. But beef cuts and all pork cuts except bone-in hams are now eligible to be shipped to Nigeria, which has the sixth largest population in the world at more than 240 million, USMEF explains. It is the third largest economy in Africa, behind South Africa and Egypt.
Important Breakthrough for U.S. Red Meat
USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom says this is an important breakthrough in a market that holds excellent long-term potential for the U.S. red meat industry.
“There are certainly challenges that must be overcome, and it will take some time to gain a foothold in the Nigerian retail and foodservice sectors,” Halstrom said. “But the first step in developing a new market is to secure meaningful access, and USMEF thanks the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for their persistent efforts to open Nigeria and other promising markets throughout the world.”
Matt Copeland, USMEF Africa Representative, says the high-end restaurants and hotels are making a “lot of noise” about wanting to be in first with some of these pork and beef products.
“They want to be known as kind of the ‘USDA prime’ on sellers in that market,” Copeland says. “I don’t think they can wait to get their hands on some USDA prime steaks in the market, and some of our top pork items as well. And then I think where this really comes into its own is, off the local supplier they haven’t been able to invest a huge amount in processing and further processing, and so with the added access to better and more reliable supply chains for all around the world, you will find the quality of production go up within the Nigerian meat economy as well for their consumers.”
