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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 1148 words, a 3.5-minute read.

IN BRIEF

• Nigeria’s non-oil export hits $2.6bn in six months – NEPC

• Packaging remains a hindrance for local products – Rwanda’s AfCFTA trade pioneer

• Nigeria-Egypt Trade Conference Begins in Cairo

NON-OIL EXPORT

💰1 big brief: Nigeria’s non-oil export hits $2.6bn in six months – NEPC

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said Nigeria’s non-oil export sector performance in the first six months of 2022 was $2.6bn.

Why it matters: With Nigeria's dwindling oil revenues and the need to diversify the economy, there has been an increased commitment to initiate various programmes and projects to stimulate the non-oil export sector.

In between the lines: NEPC had initiated programmes including One State One Product; opened Export Trade House in Egypt, Nairobi and Togo; SHETRADE Desk for Women in Export; and Youth Export Development programme all geared towards facilitating export.

The advantage: The impressive non-oil export performance according to Dr. Ezra Yakusak, ES/CEO, NEPC, can be attributed to, among others, NEPC’s new focus on strategic non-oil export programmes and initiatives such as grassroots export development.

📊By the numbers: “It will interest you to note that the non-oil export performance in the first half of 2022 was put at about $2.6bn representing an increase of 62.37 percent compared with N1.60bn recorded during the same period in 2012,” Yakusak said.

The bottom line: The potentials and opportunities in the non-oil sector are huge and require concerted efforts to harness them.

TRADE ROUNDUP

TRADE | Nigeria-Egypt Trade Conference Begins in Cairo

• The maiden edition of Nigeria–Egypt Trade Conference and Exhibition (NETCE) opens in Cairo, Egypt. The two-day conference has as its theme, “For Africa, By Africa, exploring the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).”

• The Nigerian Ambassador to Egypt, Nura Abba Rimi, put the current trade volume of the two countries at $141 million.

UPCOMING TRAINING

EXPORT PROMOTION

🗒️ Briefing note: Packaging remains a hindrance for local products – Rwanda’s AfCFTA trade pioneer

Rwanda began trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) in a pilot phase that seeks to test the environmental, legal, and trade policy basis for intra-African trade. It includes seven other African countries; Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania, and Tunisia.

Why it matters: The first consignment of coffee from Igire Coffee Limited exported to Accra, Ghana marked the formal start of preferential trading under the AfCFTA.

💬What they're saying: "Our biggest problem is packaging, not only in Rwanda but in Sub-Saharan Africa in general. The quality of products is there but we don’t necessarily have the packaging and the know-how to be able to figure out what we need to do logistically." - Ms. Briggette Harrington, President and CEO of Igire Coffee Limited.

Taking AfCFTA advantage: "I think that people are just unaware and don’t know much about this, the fact being that it is a new trade agreement and I am not sure how many people have followed from the inception of when they started talking about one common market, free movement of people, goods and services throughout Africa, Ms. Harrington further said.

• The first AfCFTA Certificate of Origin for Rwanda was issued to Igire Coffee Limited. The Coffee Products are destined for Ghana as part of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative. This is the beginning of realizing increased intra-Africa Trade.

Go deeper

🗞️COVER PAGE

The era of economic placidity in the 2010s is over.

• "The immediate fear is of a blow-up, as a financial system that has become habituated to low rates wakes up to the soaring cost of borrowing. But look further ahead and the fundamental trends in the 2020s and 2030s are for bigger government (as spending rises on health care, defence and energy infrastructure) with still-low real interest rates (as ageing populations in rich countries accumulate excess savings)."

• "That poses an acute dilemma for central banks. Should they ditch their 2% inflation targets and raise them to, say, 4%? A brave new world of somewhat higher government spending, and somewhat higher inflation, would present both opportunities and dangers. It is time to start weighing them, and their implications for citizens and businesses."

IEOM

Join us in our quest to make Africa's largest economy to be self-sufficient through non-oil export and become a member of IEOM.

DATA WATCH

• Global exports fell by 4.7% month-on-month in July 2022. Export performance was:

🔺Strongest for apparel & textile, growing 2.9%

🔻Weakest for horticulture, falling 15%

More on global trade with ITC TradeBriefs here

 TWEET OF THE WEEK

🐦 Nigeria: Trading with the World.

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

TRADING WITHIN AFRICA: Pic 1: Rwandan Minister of Trade, Hon. Dr. Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze met with the AfCFTA Secretary General H.E Mene Wamkele on the sidelines of the Council of Ministers Meeting.

Pic 2: Kenya flagged off the first consignment to Accra, Ghana under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) Guided Trade Initiative.

Pic 3: International Trade Centre (ITC) SheTrades initiative in collaboration with the host institutions from 🇷🇼Rwanda, 🇰🇪Kenya, 🇳🇬Nigeria, 🇹🇹Trinidad and Tobago at the Fruit Attraction Expo in Madrid, Spain representing over 30 women-led SMEs. Photo Credit: Twiter