Nigeria spent about N167.91 billion importing various fish species in the second quarter of 2026, representing a 14.8 per cent decline from the N197.17 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report showed that the imports covered six categories, including blue whitings, commonly known as panla; herrings, or shawa; mackerel, also known as titus or alaran; jack and horse mackerel, known as kote; yellowfin tuna; and other unclassified frozen fish.
Blue whitings remained the largest fish import in both periods, although its import value declined from N116.13 billion in Q2 2025 to N96.93 billion in Q2 2026.
Jack and horse mackerel imports, valued at N64.58 billion in Q2 2025, were mainly sourced from Chile, South Korea, Peru, Germany and the Netherlands.
However, NBS data showed that in Q2 2026, imports of the species were sourced solely from Mauritania.
Mackerel imports also recorded a significant decline, falling from N6.32 billion in Q2 2025 to N2.20 billion in Q2 2026.
Herrings, however, bucked the trend, with import values rising sharply from N9.84 billion in Q2 2025 to N62.74 billion in Q2 2026.
The fish were imported from several countries, including the Netherlands, Faroe Islands, Ireland, Poland, Germany, Chile, South Korea, Peru, Russia, China and Mauritania.
Blue whitings and jack and horse mackerel were among the top five food-related products imported by Nigeria in Q2 2025. They ranked second and third respectively, behind durum wheat, with import values of N116.13 billion and N64.58 billion.
In Q2 2026, blue whitings retained the second position among the leading food-related imports at N96.93 billion, while herrings ranked third at N62.74 billion.
Frozen crustaceans, mainly imported from China, also featured among Nigeria’s top five food-related imports during the quarter.
Reacting to Nigeria’s continued dependence on imported fish, the Chief Executive Officer of Greenview Fertilizer Corporation, Mr Vishwajit Sinha, said the country’s natural resources should enable it to produce enough fish for domestic consumption and export.
Speaking at an agro-export event in Lagos, Sinha said Nigeria’s fish import bill was too high considering its extensive coastline and freshwater resources.
“Nigeria imports almost $1.5 billion of fishery products annually. You have 850km of coastline and so much freshwater pond, why do we have to import $1.5 to $2 billion worth of fish products? We should rather be exporters,” he said.
Sinha compared Nigeria’s fishery industry with that of India, noting that India has a coastline of about 1,600km, roughly twice the length of Nigeria’s, while its fishery exports are worth around $10 billion.
He said Nigeria could reduce its dependence on imported fish through targeted policy adjustments and greater focus on developing the domestic industry.
“There is nothing, no rocket science, about it. It requires a bit of policy tweaking and focus, and we will easily become self-sufficient and do away with so much of the import we are doing today,” he added.
