Nigeria’s agric export surges to highest on record, here are the top items

by Samuel Oyekanmi September 23, 2021


Nigeria’s agric export surges to highest on record, here are the top items

Nigeria exported agro-food items worth N165.27 billion in the second quarter of 2021, representing a 112% increase compared to N78.03 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2020. This is also the highest on record, according to data tracked from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The recent value also represents a 30% increase when compared to N127.18 billion worth of export recorded in the previous quarter (Q1 2021). Recall that Nairametrics had reported that Nigeria’s foreign trade increased by 89% year-on-year to N12.03 trillion in Q2 2021.


The report had also highlighted that Nigeria continued with a foreign trade deficit of N1.87 trillion having recorded an import value of N6.95 trillion as against an export value of N5.08 trillion.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s agric imports also increased by 56.9% year-on-year in Q2 2021 to N652.08 billion, indicating a trade deficit of N486.8 billion, quite huge for a country blessed with vast land and an agricultural sector that employs a huge chunk of its labour force.

Nigeria continues to expand its ability to earn foreign returns from agricultural export, especially during a time when oil revenue is not as robust as it used to be, due to the OPEC production quota and oscillating crude oil prices.

However, the local production is still not enough for local consumption, hence the need to export food items from other countries, which in turn affects Nigeria’s balance of trade and by extension the exchange rate.

In a recent article by Nairametrics, the Chairman, Board of Directors of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Asue Ighodalo while discussing at the 4th Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) 2021 organised by the bank, stated that Nigeria’s agricultural productivity, which is currently growing by 1.3% is still insufficient to meet food and raw material demands.

Read: Foreign affairs minister explains why Nigerian exports are rejected by other countries

A brief historic check, reveals that Nigeria has recorded a continuous agric foreign trade deficit in the past 5 and half years, with the highest being N503 billion recorded in Q1 2021 followed by the recent N486.8 billion recorded in Q2 2021.



Meanwhile, Nigeria’s GDP report shows that the agricultural sector has grown consistently positively in recent years, with the latest growth at 1.3% in Q2 2021. The sector is valued at N16.67 trillion in real terms, representing about 23.5% of the Nigerian economy.

It is imperative to track the items that fetch the country its foreign earnings as a result of its impact on the Nigerian exchange rate, hence these are the top agricultural products exported to other countries.

Read: Sesamum seed, cocoa, cashew nuts top Nigeria’s agricultural exports in Q1 2021

Top agric export
Cocoa – N63.18 billion
Cashew nuts – N42.94 billion
Sesamum seeds – N21.64 billion
Coconut – N13.02 billion
Ginger – N3.75 billion
Frozen sea foods – N3.46 billion
Brasil nuts in shell – N3.28 billion
Natural cocoa butter – N2.44 billion
Sesame oil and its fraction – N1.29 billion
Palm nuts and kernels – N1.08 billion


What this means

The growth in agric export means an increase in foreign earnings, which would help boost the country’s foreign reserve as well as relieve the pressure on the exchange rate. However, the continuous negative trade balance, indicates more pressure as Nigerians will continue to search for scarce forex in order to import items that would have been produced locally.

dalongjnr:
Yet food price is at an all time highest level.

dalongjnr:
Yet food price is at an all time highest level.

neonly:
Unfortunately u won't get many likes here bro
What you just said is the truth.
May God bless our legit hustle

colestephan86:

I read through all the comments s before yours and I see that all them didn't take this seriously,
From agriculture produce transport in the early hours of the day I make a savings of between 6000 to 4500 every blessed day.

Reelmii:
Na farmers dey ball now oo
They are the new oil company workers

dalongjnr:
Yet food price is at an all time highest level.

FreeStuffsNG:
When they say there's casting down, we will say there's a lifting up.


Great job!! Cocoa is coming back as a top forex earner and probably explains the high IGR is the SW states like Oyo and Osun. Kudos to all the Patriots, especially to the farmers ,the hardworking patriotic CBN Governor,Mr Emefiele, and his team at CBN for your intervention in the agricultural industry . Please don't relent and don't allow them to frustrate you. You will overcome even the current challenges posed by currency speculators and those supporting the unpatriotic actions of the currency speculators because they hate President Muhammadu Buhari and/or they are benefiting from the unpatriotic currency speculators.

In the same country where some are cursing themselves and lamenting online, some are idling away online, some hoarding dollars to create scarcity and resell at profit and some actively enabling capital flight by using naira to buy cryptocurrency hosted in foreign nations , these patriotic farmers ignored all the negative people, toiled hard and today bringing in high amount of forex into the country. God bless them. This is a proof that you don't need to steal from government or be a drug trafficker or internet fraudster to earn USD. Agriculture is doing it for these farmers big time!

We should start looking at investing in the value chains of these agricultural products so we can export less of the raw produce and more of the finished products from the raw materials e.g import chocolate instead of cocoa beans.

If you are considering going into agriculture, these data can give you a clue on where to pitch your tent. You can produce the raw agriculture produce or manufacturer finished products from the raw materials or provide logistics to support these emerging and thriving forex earning agricultural produce.

All the enemies of Nigeria will lose las las. They always lose. God bless Nigeria.

Nebulax:


The food price will still continue to be rise for some time as most of the abundant agricultural products we used to import have been banned. And currently, we have few people making the products hence high price. By the time more people join the business, there would be competition with the price