Nigeria’s non-oil exports climbed to $3.225 billion in the first half of 2025, up 19.59 per cent from $2.696 billion in H1 2024, according to Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) CEO, Nonye Ayeni, in a statement by the organisation.
Shipment volumes rose to 4.04 million metric tonnes, up from 3.83 million MT a year earlier, reflecting both value and volume gains.
Ayeni credits the growth to expanding global demand, improved market access via the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the NEPC’s export-support interventions such as capacity building, packaging, labelling, documentation, and certification programs.
She added that increased focus on value-added exports, as exporters adopt processing and finished products, and robust demand from emerging markets like India, Brazil, Vietnam, and other African countries also lifted non-oil export figures.
A total of 236 distinct products were exported in H1 2025, a 16.83 per cent increase from 202 products in the same period of 2024, with exports spanning agricultural commodities, extractive goods, and semi-processed and manufactured products.
Ayeni highlighted that this reflects a shift from traditional agricultural exports toward a broader semi-processed/manufactured export mix.
Leading the pack, Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemical Ltd. and Starlink Global and Ideal Ltd. accounted for 11.92 per cent and 8.82 per cent of total non-oil exports, respectively, while Dangote Fertiliser Ltd. secured third place with 6.39 per cent, driven by strong fertilizer and cocoa product sales.
According to NEPC data, cocoa beans remained the top-exported single commodity, contributing 34.88 per cent of export value, up from 23.18 per cent in 2024, while urea/fertiliser followed with 17.65 per cent, up from 13.78 per cent.
Nigeria exported 663 million MT worth of goods to 11 ECOWAS countries, and 488 million MT valued at $83.54 million to 21 African nations outside ECOWAS, the latter reflecting a rise to 2.59 per cent of export value from 1.96 per cent in H1 2024.
Ayeni stressed that this underscores AfCFTA’s potential in catalyzing intra-African trade, especially for SMEs, and commended the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment for positioning Nigeria as a regional trade hub.
A total of 29 banks processed non-oil export transactions, with Zenith Bank Plc handling 31.98 per cent of all NXPs, followed by First Bank Nigeria Plc (12.44 per cent) and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (11.47 per cent).
Exports were shipped via eight seaports, three airports, and seven land borders, with 94.15 per cent routed through seaports.
Meanwhile, NEPC organized over 252 capacity-building programs nationwide, engaging 27,352 participants in training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Warehousing Practice (GWP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), packaging, labelling, and other critical areas
