Earlier this year, our laboratory tests of locally produced tomato paste found that the Nigerian-made product outperformed three of the four imported brands we tested on lycopene content, consistency, and flavour concentration. The imported brands outsell the local product by approximately four to one at the retail level.
The consistency gap
The core issue that Nigerian manufacturers have not yet solved is consistency. A product that is excellent in one batch, adequate in the next, and poor in the third teaches consumers they cannot rely on it. Once a consumer has had three bad experiences with a local product, the rational response is to switch to an import — even an expensive one — because the import’s quality, whatever its level, is predictable.
The retail environment
Walk into any major Nigerian supermarket and notice where locally produced goods are placed relative to imports. Shelf positioning is negotiated, and Nigerian manufacturers — particularly smaller ones — frequently cannot match the promotional budgets of multinational importers. Policy change is needed: several regional countries have implemented retail shelf regulations requiring minimum proportions of locally produced goods in prominent positions. Nigeria has no such requirement.