Nigeria recorded $2.52 billion in non-oil export proceeds for the first half of 2023, after exporting 3,944,344.17 metric tonnes of products, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said.
The NEPC also revealed that the proceeds recorded was slightly lower by 0.09 percent than the $2.59 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.
Ezra Yakusak, ED/CEO, NEPC, said this while giving a performance report on exports between January and June 2023 in Abuja on Monday.
“The reasons for this slight decrease could be attributed to the general election that was held in February/March 2023 and subsequent transition in Government which might have likely affected economic activities,” he said.
Yakusak added that changes in global economic conditions, such as slowdown in global demand or decline in commodity prices may have also negatively impacted non-oil export performance.
Despite this dip, Yakusak still expressed optimism that the NEPC will hit its $5 billion target this year.
He revealed that 859 companies participated in export activities to 110 countries, spread among five continents of the world. The top 5 countries were Vietnam, China, Japan, Brazil and India.
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He said that the NEPC, under its Export Development Programme for priority products have concluded plans for the establishment of a Cashew Processing Plant in Ogbomosho, Oyo State on a Public Private Partnership arrangement.
“This is predicated on the fact that Ogbomosho cashew is globally acknowledged as a brand for good quality and thereby highly sought after in the international market. We have since commenced processes towards setting up the processing plant,” he said.
Speaking on the impact of the subsidy removal and FX unification policies, he noted that this was not envisaged hence the council will have to restrategize and make plans to suit the new conditions.
He added that regardless other incentives are still available to support the activities of exporters.
Speaking to BusinessDay on export rejections, he noted that the council has at various times trained exporters especially SMEs and women owned businesses on ways to improve their exports such as better packaging, better quality, etc to reduce export rejections.
“Under the ‘Go Global, Go for Certification’ campaign, the NEPC is presently facilitating SMEs acquisition of international certification for 200 additional MSMEs in order to access niche market with premium pricing, this program has assisted in decreasing cases of Export rejects,” he said.
Highlighting achievements of the council between January and June, he said 1, 649 exporters were registered and issued Exporters certificates, also the Federal Government approved and completed the disbursement of N308, 458, 160, 546.41 worth of Promissory Notes to 199 exporting companies under the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) Scheme.
