Nigeria exports N682bn worth of aluminum in 9 months

Nigeria exported N682bn worth of aluminum alloy from January to September of 2024, analysis of Foreign Trade Statistics report has shown.

The report, which is produced by the National Bureau of Statistics tagged the product as ‘Unwrought aluminum alloys’ and thus exported in ingots, blocks, billets or slab forms.

A breakdown indicated that N84bn of the product was exported in the first quarter of 2024 followed by N480bn in the second quarter and N116bn in the third quarter.

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Japan was the biggest importer of the product with N218.3bn total imports followed by China with N43.5bn.

Nigeria’s flourishing aluminum export is despite the country’s only smelting plant, Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, not in operation since 2000.

Recall that ALSCON was launched in 1997 but ceased operations in 2000. In 2007, United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL), a Russian company, acquired an 85 per cent stake, with the remaining shares owned by the Nigerian government.

RUSAL modernised the facility, which has an annual capacity of 193,000 tons of aluminum, but operations were suspended in March 2013 due to an unreliable gas supply, making production unviable.

However, the plant has been bogged down in an ownership tussle with an American company, Bancorp Financial Investment Group (BFIG) that was disqualified from the bidding process during its privatisation.

However, despite both companies securing court victories to lay claim to the company, there have been recent efforts to revive the company.

The federal government had last year said it planned to revive the plant and when fully operational, the company will contribute to the nation’s economy.

Describing it as a significant boost to investors’ confidence, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, expressed confidence in the imminent revamping of the plant, according to a statement in Abuja by his spokesman, Louis Ibah.

Ekpo, according to the statement, spoke when he led a Nigerian delegation that included top officials of BFIGroup of America, the preferred bidder and core investor in the privatisation of the federal government’s shares in ALSCON, on a visit to the headquarters of China National Chemical Engineering Corporation (CNCEC) in Beijing.

While UC RUSAL also announced plans to inject $500m, ALSCON chairman, Alexey Arnautov, during a visit with the company’s management to President Bola Tinubu at the State House in July, emphasised that the $500 million investment within a specific timeframe will significantly enhance the company’s performance.

In a statement, Tinubu expressed the government’s strong interest in reviving the smelter company in Ikot Abasi highlighting its importance for the nation’s development.