The Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nonye Ayeni, announced that Nigeria’s total exports for the first half of 2024 reached $2.7 billion, marking a 2.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Speaking at a meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, Ayeni provided a detailed breakdown, revealing that 211 different products were exported during this period. The top exports included cocoa, beans, urea, and sesame.
Ayeni also highlighted that the leading destinations for Nigerian exports were Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Brazil.
Recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed a significant rise in agricultural exports from Nigeria, with a 123 percent increase over the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023 (₦463.97 billion) and a 270 percent rise compared to Q1 2023 (₦279.64 billion). According to the NBS, the majority of these agricultural exports, valued at ₦572 billion, were sent to Asia, followed by ₦366 billion worth of exports to Europe.
The report noted that the primary agricultural exports were sesamum seeds valued at ₦247.75 billion, superior quality cocoa beans at ₦231 billion, and standard quality cocoa beans at ₦140 billion.