The Federal Government’s efforts to ensure the country’s non-oil sector remains the major foreign exchange earner may have faltered considerably, as the total value of exports in the third quarter of this year declined remarkably to an all time low level of N181.3 billion.

The figure represents 68.73 per cent drop in value from N579.8 billion recorded in the second quarter to about N398.5 billion.

 The sector recorded about N795.05 billion in the first quarter of the year.
Interestingly, the total exports value during the quarter showed remarkable improvement, as the oil sector made up for the shortfall, with revenue earnings of about N3.69trillion, representing a N698.6 billion, or 23.3 per cent difference, over the preceding quarter’s value.

The value of exports, which totalled N3.87 trillion, showed an increase of about N300 billion, or 8.4 per cent over the value for second quarter of the year.
 
When analyzed on a year-on-year basis, exports during the quarter under review increased by N920.7billion, or 31.2 per cent over the earnings in the corresponding period of 2010.

Major non-oil items exported by the country during the period under review included plastics, rubber and articles which earned N48.4 billion, or 1.2 per cent of non-oil export proceeds for our country; footwear, head gear, umbrellas etc, with N29.5 billion, or 0.8 per cent; prepared foodstuffs, beverages, spirits, with N22.6 billion or 0.6 per cent, and vinegar and raw hides and skin, leather, fur skins and so on, raking in N14.9 billion or 0.4 per cent.

A further analysis of the non-oil export values on month-by-month basis in third quarter of the year showed that September recorded the highest revenue yield of about N99.51 billion, while July grossed N41.09 billion, showing a marginal increase over the July and August export value of N40.74 billion.

A further analysis of the non-oil sector’s export trend showed that vegetable products raked in N12.52 billion, base metal and articles of base metal accrued about N10.77 billion earnings, while boilers, machinery and chemical appliances and parts thereof raked in N9.39 billion during the period.

Regarding export destination, the United States of America with a total N1.27trillion, or 33 per cent of total exports from Nigeria, remained the country’s main market for its largely crude oil exports, followed by India, with N409.9 billion, or 10.5 per cent; Brazil, with N300.2 billion, or 7.74 per cent; Algeria, with N299.4billion, or 7.72 per cent, and France for N264.1billion, or 6.8 per cent of the total exports value.

Nigerian exports to other African countries stood at N509.03billion, or 17 per cent out of the total Nigerian exports, with the ECOWAS region, representing N81.83billion, or 16 per cent of total exports to African countries.

The Federal Government had projected that contributions of the non-oil sector to Nigeria’s merchandise would grow significantly in the next few years, as monetary and fiscal policies, including reduced interest rates on bank credits policies are being adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to raise the contributions of the non-oil sector in Nigeria’s foreign export.