The Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that Indorama Eleme Fertiliser & Chemical Ltd. and Dangote Fertiliser Ltd. were the leading non-oil exporters in October 2024.
This was disclosed in its latest monthly economic report, which provides an overview of the Nigerian economy.
Other top non-oil exporters included Outspan Nigeria Ltd, Starlink Global & Ideal Ltd, and Olatunde International Ltd.
Nigeria has been aiming to boost its non-oil exports to strengthen its revenue base.
According to the report, earnings from the export of non-oil products increased, driven, majorly, by higher receipts from the export of agricultural commodities.
“Non-oil export earnings increased by 19.23 per cent to $0.62bn, from $0.52bn in September. Receipts from the top five non-oil exporters surged to $0.24bn from $0.13bn in September. Analysis by share indicated that Indorama Eleme Fertiliser & Chemical Ltd. (18.97 per cent) and Dangote Fertiliser Ltd. (8.72 per cent) were the leading exporters with the exports of urea and fertilisers, respectively.
Outspan Nigeria Ltd. (8.45 per cent) ranked third through the export of cocoa. Starlink Global & Ideal Ltd. followed with a 7.35 per cent share, from the export of dairy products, while Olatunde International Ltd. (5.96 per cent) ranked fifth from the export of cocoa beans.”
A breakdown of the direction of trade revealed Brazil as the major destination for Nigeria’s non-oil export products (20.22 per cent) This was followed by the Netherlands (15.61 per cent), Malaysia (11.76 per cent), Japan (6.35 per cent), Germany (5.32 per cent), and the USA (5.21 per cent).
The major commodities exported were cocoa beans, which represented the largest share at 30.04 per cent, followed by urea (26.59 per cent); sesame seeds (5.64 per cent), cocoa products (5.63 per cent), aluminium (3.84 per cent), and copper (3.43 per cent).
In the period under review, merchandise import bills increased on the back of both oil and non-oil imports.
Provisional data from the CBN revealed that total imports increased to US$2.81bn from US$2.78bn in September.
Meanwhile, sectoral utilisation of foreign exchange for visible imports at $1.47bn showed that industrial sector imports had the largest share of 56.88 per cent. This was followed by food products (15.35 per cent), the oil sector (13.50 per cent), manufactured products (8.13 per cent), minerals (3.14 per cent), transport (2.58 per cent) and agriculture (0.42 per cent).
