Nigerian importers have raised an alarm that about 16,000 containers destined for Nigeria may have been trapped in China as a result of the wide-spreading Coronavirus.
Giving an insight into the quantum of containers that are trapped in China, the Chairman of Importers Association, Balogun market, who however pleaded anonymity, told Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, that some importers do groupage of their consignments, even as he disclosed that majority of them import at least four containers daily.
He maintained that at least each importer is losing a minimum of N1million daily while there are others who are losing N2million daily depending on their level of importation.
“Talking about the number of containers, we do groupage and it is all about how the flow is. For an individual, you are talking about four containers but in groupage, we load an average of one container daily, we are supposed to be doing two containers daily”
On the outbreak of the virus, he said: “It is not about containers that we are loading, the issue is that people are not going again, I went to visit my friend who is also an importer , we are all in the east and we are expecting more importers to come down this week end. I am losing very big money now that I am in the village without traveling. I want you to know that thousands of people are involved. For not travelling, every person among the importers is losing a lot monthly. And we are talking of over 5,000 people who are affected”, he told our correspondent.
He disclosed that there are about 5000 Nigerian importers who go to China regularly and that none has gone since the beginning of this year and that the outbreak of Coronavirus has even compounded the woes of the importers.
He added that many are even in their villages, pending when the Chinese government will be able to contend with the virus, adding that normally by this time an average importer is supposed to be in China.
“As I am talking to you now, I am in the village due to the Coronavirus. Normally by this time all of us should be in China; this is the time we used to go for Chinese sales and after that they will go on Holiday, before we will now come back. But due to the virus, the Chinese government shut down before their New Year. Now their New Year is over now and nobody is going there”.
Meanwhile the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Engineer Mansur Ahmed pleaded with the Federal Government to ensure that the deadly Coronavirus does not spread to Nigeria.
“We are hopeful that the Coronavirus will not get to Nigeria. And if you had listened to the minister of health recently, the government is doing all they can to ensure that we are able to protect our country from this virus. And I can say with some level of confidence that we should do to Coronavirus what we did to Ebola, I believe that we should be reasonably saved”, he said.
Similarly, the Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Mr. Muda Yusuf said that the virus is going to disrupt a lot of activities.
“We have not done the estimation of the cost implication, but it is going to disrupt a lot of things because China is our leading trading partner. So this development is going to disrupt quite a lot of things, because a number of our people travel to that place often. So with these now, all those physical interactions will be affected”, he said.
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