Nigeria exported 167 non-oil products in 1st quarter of 2023 ― NEPC

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The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has disclosed that over 167 non-oil products worth $1.345 billion have been exported in the first quarter of 2023.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja, the Executive Director of NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak said “these products range from manufactured, semi-processed, solid minerals and raw agricultural commodities.

“Just like last year, the first quarter also shows that Nigerian products are gradually shifting from its traditional export of raw agricultural commodities to the export of semi-processed and manufactured goods.”

Giving a breakdown of the products exported, Yakusak explained that “of the top-ten products exported in the first quarter of 2023, Urea, Cocoa Beans, Sesame Seed, Soya Beans/meal and Cashew nuts/kernels were top five.

“A total of 618, 184.06 metric tonnes of products worth US$75.829 million were exported to 12 ECOWAS Countries in the period under review. You may need to note that this figure is a 15.19% increase over the 1st quarter exports of 2022.”

He further stated that “of the ten top export companies, Indorama-Eleme Fertilizer and Chemical Limited took the lead with 13.39% (US$182.804 million) in terms of value while Dangote Fertilizer Limited recorded the second-highest value of US$144, 089, 083.49 respectively.

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“A total of 30 banks participated in the issuance of 5786 NXPs for the first quarter of 2023 with Zenith Bank PLC processing the highest NXP values at 37.42%, United Bank of Africa (UBA) Plc and First Bank of Nigeria with 11.494% and 10.06% respectively.

“16 exit points used within the period under review had seaports in the South-West and South-South accounting for over 90 per cent of the total non-oil export volume.

“I am optimistic that with the several export intervention programmes and projects that we have started and are ongoing, the expected performance of the sector in 2023 will likely surpass that of 2022. We are projecting a non-oil export performance of over $ 5 billion for the year 2023” he stated.

Yakusak said “Ninety-Seven (97) Countries, spread among five (5) continents of the world, imported Nigerian products during the period under review. The top 5 (five) countries that imported from Nigeria are Brazil, China, Japan, India and the Netherlands.

“Regrettably, no African country made the top 10 non-oil export destinations. We believe that the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will change this trade trajectory.”