Nigeria’s non-oil exports have received a big lift with local manufacturing exporters capturing new markets in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Already, Central and West African markets are established markets that have for some time been dominated by Nigerian manufacturers, BusinessDay findings show.

Independent findings show some of the newly captured markets in Eastern Africa as the Comoros, Seychelles, Tanzania and Ethiopia, while those in Southern Africa include Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.

According to findings, finished products which thrive in these markets include bathroom slippers, glass wares, cosmetics and personal care products, food and beverages, steel, aluminium and chemicals.

“We have new markets in East and Southern Africa. The Central and West African markets are established markets for our manufacturers,” said the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Group (MANEG), headed by Tunde Oyelola, in an e-mail to BusinessDay.

Data show Nigerian manufacturers are exploiting various markets in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Memuda Industries sold $82.3 million worth of finished leather to Italy in 2012, emerging the fourth biggest non-oil exporter, compared with $10.6 million worth of the same item sold overseas in the preceding year, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data show.

Multitan, also a key player in the tanning sector, had an export value of $36 million, from $3 million reported in the preceding year. Its export destinations have been Europe, West and Central Africa.

Deepak Singhal, CEO, Dufil Prima Foods, producer of Indomie noodles, said the company’s exports to the West African and other markets in 2013 were worth $50 million, and about 90 percent of the company’s raw materials were sourced locally.

The acceptability of Nigerian products in markets across the globe has continued to be driven by improved competiveness of locally manufactured goods, which reflects in the deliberate improvement in product quality, design and affordability, Dom Opara, general manager, Posh International, whose firm exports plastics to Cameroon and other African markets, told BusinessDay.

The 2013 non-oil exports rose to $2.97 billion, from $2.56 billion recorded in 2012, representing a 16 percent increase. Non-oil exports to 15 other states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by the end of 2013 moved to $375.338 million, from $312.477 million and $276.53 million recorded in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Olusegun Awolowo, CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), identified the top 10 African countries where Nigerian products were bound in 2013 as Ghana, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso. Others are Guinea, Mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Awolowo said the country exported tobacco products, plastics and rubber footwear, noodles and biscuits, polybags, milk products, iron and steel, insecticides, beverages, tomato paste and fruit juices to these top 10 African countries.

But one key problem bedevilling Nigeria’s non-oil exports is lack of incentives to drive the sector, say analysts. The Export Expansion Grant (EEG) has been suspended for 14 months now, as the scheme is still under review.

Non-oil exporters are struggling with distribution gridlocks as well as poor business environment that ramps up production costs, say stakeholders.

Similarly, the country’s non-oil exports remain largely uncaptured, as most exporters play in the informal sector, resulting in loss of revenue that could have accrued to government as export duties.

Between 2009 and 2013, the cumulative total of these uncaptured non-oil exports reached $46.19 billion, according to data from the International Trade Centre (ITC) aggregated by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), which was obtained by BusinessDay.

“But for the high incidence of unrecorded trade, the statistics could have passed for accurate measurement of the performance of non-oil export as 80 percent of the transactions are not recorded,” said Awolowo.

BusinessDay October 23, 2014 |

ODINAKA ANUDU

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