Japan seeks increased trade with Nigeria

The Managing Director, Japan External Trade Organisation, Takuma Taninami, has said the current business relationship between Nigeria and Japan is not enough.

According to him, the huge Nigerian market was yet to be fully tapped into by Japanese and Japanese companies, considering Japan is the third largest economy in the world.

The JETRO boss stated this at the Japan Pavilion at the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair 2022.

At this year’s edition of the LITF, 19 companies are exhibiting at the Japan Pavilion ranging from automobile sectors or hi-technological pieces of machinery.

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While speaking on Nigeria-Japan business relationships he said, “We JETRO, Japan External Trade Organization is well known as the governing body of Japan to promote trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. JETRO Lagos was established in 1955 and for more than six decades, we’ve been trying to support various kinds of business between Nigeria and Japan.

“When we refer to the business relationship between Nigeria and Japan, in 2021, the amount of export from Nigeria to Japan is around $760m dollars, while the import from Japan to Nigeria is $287m.”

Taninami said the major commodity of export from Nigeria to Japan is LNG, and that LNG represents about 70 per cent of all exports.

He added that “The number of Japanese companies in Nigeria is increasing too. In 2014, we only had 21 Japanese companies, but today we are counting twice as we will have over 45 in 2022.

“It is notable that we recently have several VC funds and startups which are operated by Japanese persons in Nigeria. Nowadays, rising innovative startups in Nigeria attract more Japanese business persons to invest and they are getting involved in this sector.

“Not only for VC funds, but trading houses and manufacturers are seeking opportunities to collaborate with Nigerian startups.

“However, if we consider Japan as the third biggest economy in the world, current business relationships between Nigeria and Japan are still not enough. This refrains the fact that the huge Nigerian market is yet to be known well by Japanese and Japanese companies.”