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Happy Tuesday and Welcome to Export Brief. A weekly newsletter with insightful developments and trends on non-oil export trade from Africa's largest economy and from the global stage. If you enjoy EB, share it with friends. 

• ⏲️: This edition is 1153 words, a 3.5-minute read.

IN BRIEF

⚡ Situational awareness: Nigeria's Central Bank monetary policy committee (MPC) decision is expected today at 2:00 pm (GMT+1). As inflation continues to rise, we expect an increase in interest rates.

• $22 million to boost Nigeria’s cocoa value chain

• Nigeria records over $1.69bn exports to the US - FG

• Nigeria eyes OECD membership to boost seeds export

EXPORT TRADE 

🍫1 big brief: $22 million to boost Nigeria’s cocoa value chain

The US Department of Agriculture Food for Progress programme has announced that it has entered into a cooperative agreement with Lutheran World Relief to strengthen the cocoa value chain in Nigeria.

Why it matters: The U.S. consulate said in a statement that the project was worth approximately $22 million and would be implemented over the next five years.

In between the lines: According to the consulate, the Lutheran World Relief, an international non-governmental organisation will carry out project activities in Abia, Cross River, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Ondo and Osun States, benefitting approximately 68,000 farmers.

The advantage: The project would employ an approach that would enable farmers to produce more cocoa and preserve the land’s fertility and biodiversity. It would also realise an important triple bottom line of people, profit, and planet.

📊By the numbers: The program has two principal objectives: to improve agricultural productivity and expand trade in agricultural products. The US granted $20 million to support Jamaica’s local spice industry.

💬What they're saying: “This will target farmers in low productivity but high promising areas, as well as farmers in high density, high productivity communities. The primary objective of the Food for Progress programme is to increase cocoa productivity by leveraging climate-smart agricultural measures.

• It will support improved access to inputs, technical resources and capacity, post-harvest processing and export markets,” - Gerald Smith, the counselor for Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Mission .

The bottom line: The Food for Progress Program provides for the donation of U.S. agricultural commodities to developing countries and emerging democracies committed to introducing and expanding free enterprise in the agricultural sector.

TRADE ROUNDUP

TRADE | Nigeria records over $1.69bn exports to the US - FG

• Nigeria's government has disclosed that the country earned over $1.6 billion from export to the United States in 2020. 

EXPORT | Nigeria eyes OECD membership to boost seeds export

• The government through its National Agricultural Seeds Council has commenced moves to make Nigeria a full member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in order to boost the country’s export of seeds.

UPCOMING TRAINING

EXPORT PROMOTION

🗒️ Briefing note: Shippers’ Council Reiterates Maritime Co-operation

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has called for increased partnership from operators in the maritime industry. This is for them to take advantage of the various port enhancement initiatives to promote regional maritime services, export and achieve effective connectivity and trade frequency in Africa.

Why it matters: As part of the efforts to ensure efficient regional shipping, the automation process of the port process had attained 68 percent completion and this would enhance export trading in the region.

• The ports are poised for 24-hour operations in line with the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business but users of port services sometimes cite infrastructure and security challenges as reasons for their inability to access port services after-hours.

💬What they’re saying: “The shipping industry is dynamic in nature, but then, there are certain components that thrive in the shipping business all over the world. We cannot run away from the fact that we need to automate our ports and our processes,” she maintained, adding that this will rub off positively on the operation of the Inland Dry Ports." - Ms. Adaora Nwonu, Assistant Director, Stakeholder Services at Nigerian Shipper's Council. 

• “That is why we are working on our own shipping line called the Sealink and we have gone quite far. But beyond that, we are also advocating for more players and we are not leaving that just to the Sealink project,” she asserted.

• “We need to do more in the infrastructure to move the goods from the cities to export destinations. We need to also develop our inland waterways. We can use barges to carry goods in the absence of port materials. That was why we were finding a scope in inland waterways,” Mr. Tayo Omioji, Head, Strategy and Communication, NEXIM

🗞️MAKING THE HEADLINE

According to the Guardian findings showed that besides mails that topped cargo net export in 2021, the country slumped in the export of agricultural produce following high rate of rejections and prohibitions overseas over poor packaging, documentation and alleged noncompliance with set standards. Go deeper.

IEOM

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DATA WATCH 

 TWEET OF THE WEEK

🐦 READ the new FAO report on the Status of Digital Agriculture!

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

CAPACITY BUILDING VISIT: IEOM's Executive Secretary/CEO, Mr. Ofon Udofia and Head of Administration & Women-in-Export, Mrs. Mercy Odibe, led a field trip of participants to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Ports Authority, Onne at the just concluded 4-day Export Training held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria recently.  Photo Credit: IEOM