The Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Kim Young Chae, has said has unveiled the volume of trade between the country and Nigeria which rose to $2 billion in 2021.
Chae said on Thursday when he addressed the media on the heels of the election of Yoon Suk-yeol as South Korea’s President-elect on Wednesday.
He said the bilateral trade figure was a 50 per cent increase in compared to that of 2020. He said the boost in bilateral trade occurred in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I hope that this year our bilateral trade rises further and at the end of the day I want to see Nigeria become Korea’s biggest trading partner in Africa.
Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, so it should be Korea’s number trading partner among Africa’s countries,” Kim said.
Presently, Nigeria is Korea’s third biggest trading partner in Africa.
The ambassador said the balance of trade between both countries was driven mainly by Korea’s manufactured goods, like plastic and aluminum related products and Nigeria’s oil and gas.
“We are importing a lot of Nigerian gas to further increase our bilateral trade. Of course oil and gas is very important, but we want to see some agricultural products from Nigeria and manufactured goods in order to penetrate into Korean market.
“I hope more Nigerian companies will study Korean markets and Korean consumers. For example, we import a lot of sesame seed and I know that Nigeria produces a lot of sesame seed. There is a huge potential for Nigeria’s sesame seed or sesame oil,” he said.
