By Progress Godfrey
ABUJA — Nigeria’s non-oil exports reached a historic high of $6.1 billion in 2025, marking the strongest performance since the establishment of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC.
The Executive Director of NEPC, Mrs Nonye Ayeni, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja, saying the figure represents an 11.5 percent increase over the $5.46 billion recorded in 2024, based on data from pre-shipment inspection agencies.
Ayeni said the latest performance confirms the growing importance of the non-oil sector to Nigeria’s economy and reflects improved competitiveness across several export value chains.
She added that the gains were recorded despite structural challenges, noting that a significant volume of exports still moves through informal channels across the country’s borders.
In volume terms, total non-oil exports rose to 8.02 million metric tonnes in 2025, representing a 10 percent increase from the 7.29 million metric tonnes recorded in the previous year.
Ayeni said, “This marks the highest value achieved in the country for formal documented trade since the inception of the Council, beating our own record and underscoring the growing resilience and relevance of the non-oil export sector to Nigeria’s economy.
“This outstanding performance is not the total story, as a lot of exports still go out informally through our various borders. NEPC is in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics and the Central Bank, and other stakeholders are working hard to mainstream informal trade.”
She said Nigeria exported 281 non-oil products in 2025, spanning agricultural commodities, processed and semi-processed goods, industrial inputs and solid minerals, pointing to gradual progress in value addition and product diversification.
“Nigeria’s non-oil exports reached markets across 120 countries, with the Netherlands contributing 17.53 per cent, Brazil 10.35 per cent, and India 7.63 per cent of non-oil exports. Therefore, these three countries emerged as the top three destinations by value,” she added.
Exports to the Netherlands grew by 32.46 percent, driven by cocoa beans, cocoa butter and sesame seeds, while shipments to Brazil increased by 19.07 per cent during the period under review.
Within Africa, Nigeria exported non-oil products to 11 ECOWAS member states, with total exports valued at $271.255 million, representing 4.46 percent of total non-oil export value, a decline of 13.08 percent from 2024 due to the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the bloc.
Ayeni added that top-performing non-oil exports for the year included cocoa and its derivatives, urea, cashew, sesame seed, gold dore, aluminium ingots, copper ingots, soya beans and meal, and rubber, reinforcing the sector’s expanding contribution to economic diversification.
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