FG to inaugurate Nigerian export trade house in China

In preparation for the official opening of the Nigerian export trade house in Hunan Province, China, Zeenab Foods Limited has exported 20 containers of agricultural produce worth $1.5 million to China.

Victor Ayemere, managing director at Zeenab Foods, speaking at a meeting with stakeholders, before the containers left for China last week, said the company’s mandate as the operators of the Nigerian export trade house, was to boost foreign exchange earnings from non-oil export.

According to him, “our objective is to increase the volume of export to China and other countries in the Far East region through sensitising, converting, training, guiding and off-taking of agricultural commodities.

“We have exported the first batch of containers to Hunan Province; the Nigerian exporting house in China, but that was on a low key. Today we want to push out 20 containers worth $1.5 million.

“Sometime last year, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) representing the Federal Government appointed Zeenab Foods to set up and operate the Nigeria export trade house in China.

Ayemere noted that the trade house will be commissioned in March this year, adding that the platform was opened not only for Zeenab Foods but all traders in the non-oil sector.

“We hope that after today we will continue to send more containers to the port in China, to the point that we will be recognised as a major change agent to the trade deficit between China and Nigeria.

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Today we have 17 containers of ginger and three containers of sesame seed worth $1.5 million,” he said.

According to Ezra Yukusak, executive director at NEPC, the government has launched three other export trade houses in Cairo, Kenya and Togo, while others in China, Dubai, US and London are underway.

Yukusak, represented by Babajide Falake, said, “China is a big market for Nigeria and very important for us. We are moving ginger and sesame seeds from here to China today and it would take about 45 days to get to that place.

“So we have officially launched this platform and we are calling on every small and medium business operator who intends to export to China. The export trade houses are a public private partnership programme that is open to all Nigerians”, Yukusak said.

Allen Zhang, the representative of the Chinese government, said export marks a milestone in the bilateral ties between both countries. He added that in 2022, Nigeria’s trade with China was worth $26 billion.