There are more than 20 Nigerian non-oil products foreign buyers are searching for in the international market, you can tap from this goldmine if only you can find the right channel and know which products sell most in your target market.
The point is: that Nigeria’s economic dependence on crude oil export is an indication that hundreds of business opportunities are untapped and the only way to rake in millions of naira in revenue from exporting business in Nigeria is:
1) to know the process involved,
2) the required documents,
3) agricultural products with the highest demand from other countries around the world.
Why Nigeria’s Exporting Business Is a Goldmine
Between 2016 to 2018, Nigeria’s agriculture exports were below 2%.
What does this mean?
This means the sector has not been fully explored, the market is huge for you despite the security challenges.
Despite the low export and due to the fact that the focus of the leadership is on crude oil proceeds (except for President Muhammadu Buhari who is trying to diversify from crude oil to non-oil products), the agriculture industry in 2018 contributed approximately 25% to total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to PWC in its 8-page report entitled, “Unlocking Nigeria’s Agricultural Exports”.
Our View
Nigeria can actually make more from agriculture than crude oil, if the government pay the needed attention and give it necessary incentives and supports for farmers.
In 2019, the most populous African country rake in $10.4 billion as revenue from exports.
Between March 2019 – March 2020, Sesame Seeds, cocoa beans, and cashew nuts contributed N112.8 billion, N109.6 billion, and N38.2 billion respectively.
The above data shows that the agriculture sector is the largest contributor to Nigeria’s GDP and more can still be made from non-oil products if the government can fix security.
Top Non-Oil Products You Can Export from Nigeria
You’ve done your market research on how to source for the products to export, you have enough information about who to sell to, and you’ve obtained a CAC certificate for your business and got an exporter certificate.
It’s time to know which one among the several raw products you can explore and sell to international buyers.
Below is a table of the list of most sought products you can start selling and the countries where the products are in high demand.
The first five products are based on the data obtained from the Bureau of statics which states that Nigeria made N289.3 billion from the sales of non-oil exports between April 2019 to March 2020
| Top Non-oil Products You Can Export From Nigeria | Importing Countries |
| Sesamum seeds | Japan,
China, Turkey, India, and Vietnam |
| Cocoa Beans | Germany,
Netherlands, Spain Indonesia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Estonia. |
| Cashew nuts (In shell and shelled) | Vietnam,
India, USA, Russia and The Netherlands |
| Frozen shrimps and prawns | Netherlands,
Belgium, France, Vietnam, USA |
| Natural cocoa butter | Germany
Estonia |
| Nigerian Ginger | Germany
India U.A.E Morocco Sudan |
| Palm Kernel | USA
China Germany Japan The Netherlands |
| African textiles eg Adire, ankara | China
India France Japan USA |
| Rubber | Netherlands
China Spain France Brazil |
| Garlic | Brazil
Indonesia United States Malaysia Germany |
| Yam Tubers | USA
Canada United Kingdom Taiwan UAE |
References:
- pwc.com/ng/en/assets/pdf/unlocking-ngr-agric-export.pdf
- Featured Image credit: Maksym Kaharlytskyi of unsplash.com
- nairametrics.com/2019/08/17/top-10-agricultural-products-export-from-nigeria
- nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary