Nigeria sold 4,146,534 metric tonnes of non-oil products worth $2.593 billion between January and June of this year after being able to address concerns about product rejection.
When compared to the $1.59 billion recorded in the first half of 2021, the sum reflects an increase of 62.37 percent. Additionally, it exceeds the 2020 figure, which was $981.442 million.
The numbers were provided to the media on Tuesday in Abuja by Dr. Ezra Yakusak, Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.
When the crisis hit the world economy in 2021, he claimed, the non-oil export revenues for the first half of this year were enormous.
The records also revealed that there were no goods rejected during the assessment period, according to the NEPC Chief Executive, who took office on November 27th, 2021.
He noted that approximately 200 different products, ranging from manufactured, semi-processed, solid minerals, to raw agricultural products, were reported to have been exported in the time under review. He then provided a breakdown of the non-oil products that were exported.
He said that manufactured goods made up 36.28 percent of non-oil exports, followed by raw agricultural products at 33.35 percent and precious stones at 13.22 percent.
Similarly, he claimed that goods from a different non-oil sub-sector contributed the remaining 17.15%.
The head of NEPC also noted that among the top 15 exports during the first half of the 2022 fiscal year, fertilizer and urea accounted for 32.49 percent of overall exports, while cocoa beans, sesame seeds, and aluminum made for 12.65 percent, 7. percent, and 5.07 percent of exports, respectively.
“May I inform you that during the period under review, 572 enterprises participated in exporting Nigeria’s goods,” he remarked. This is a sign that Nigerian companies are gradually adopting the NEPC’s diversification program by diversifying their exports beyond oil.
Yakusak cited the fact that various Nigerian goods were shipped to 112 nations during the time period under consideration while describing the final destinations of some of these exported goods.
Some of these goods were exported to the continents of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
He added that the top three export destinations, measured by the value of imports, were Brazil, the United States, and India.
He lamented the fact that none of the top ten foreign markets for Nigerian exports is an African nation.
Only Benin and the Niger Republic, he said, made the top 15.
You may now understand the need for our efforts to strategically position Nigerian goods in important African nations through our Export Trade Houses, he added.
“It should be noted at this juncture that both Benin and the Niger Republic are Nigeria’s immediate neighbors and as such, they are traditionally gateways for informal export activities.”
“Therefore, this biannual study shows that the Council’s effort to mainstream informal export is increasingly producing results.”
The NEPC Boss revealed that 16 exit points were used to export non-oil items from Nigeria in the first half of 2022 while speaking about the points of exit for these goods.
Seaports, international airports, and land borders were some of these egress locations.
According to the Council’s data, more than 90% of the overall value of exports came from exit locations in the South West and South – South, primarily seaports.
He said that the Council registered 2, 000 companies using its completely automated online application platform during the first half of 2022 in order to make conducting business easier and streamline documentation processes.
“I am also elated to inform you that processing time for applications is now 24 hours while 17.3 per cent of applicants were recorded to be Women-Owned Businesses.”
“The South West recorded the highest figure of exporters’ registration of 851, while North Central came second with 417 registered exporters,” he added.
Regarding the Export Expansion Grant, which is intended to advance the current administration’s diversification agenda, he claimed that the Federal Executive Council in the first half of the year approved the sum of N375 billion to pay the backlog of claims for 285 program beneficiaries from 2016 to the present.
The Executive is currently interacting with the National Assembly to facilitate ratification for a subsequent payout, he continued.
