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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 1258 words, a 4-minute read.

IN BRIEF

⚡ Situational awareness: Nigeria's Onne port generated over N242 billion in 2022 - Customs

• UK cuts tariffs on Nigerian exports

• Nigeria’s economy to grow by 3% in 2023 — UN

TRADE

1 big brief: UK cuts tariffs on Nigerian exports

The UK government says it had cut tariffs and extended duty-free trade in goods exported from Nigeria

Why it matters: The launch of the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) would help to boost Nigeria’s non-oil exports which will take off in April 2023.

• The scheme would reduce import costs by over £750 million per year, thereby reducing prices, and increasing the choice of UK consumers and businesses as well.

Be smart: The DCTS is much more generous and simpler than the existing Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP).

By the numbers: The trade volume between Nigeria and the UK for the year 2022 was £2.2 billion, noting that the oil and gas sector accounted for the majority of the trade.

• Cutting tariffs for Nigeria would ensure that 3000 new products are duty-free for the first time as the average existing tariff on these goods is seven percent, meaning these changes make Nigerian exports more competitive in the UK

💬What they're saying: “We have reached out to small and large businesses in different parts of the country and this is intended to help exporters and other people in the trading business to make the United Kingdom an export destination. - Mr. Ben Llewellyn-Jones, Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria

• “The Uk Government has reduced the tariffs of 90 percent of goods that Nigeria would export to our country and has also provided a preferential trading scheme for a range of other exports that the country might have.

• “The key challenge for exporters is finding key partners in the UK to sell their products but we are working on ensuring that we link exporters with potential buyers so as to ensure there is enough demand and supply,”

The bottom line: Many tariff reductions are on value-added goods such as processed sesame oil, cotton clothing and cocoa butter and paste and complement existing duty-free trade on raw products.

TRADE ROUNDUP

ECONOMY | Nigeria’s economy to grow by 3% in 2023 — UN

• Commodity exporters in Africa will likely face weaker market conditions given the expected global economic slowdown, according to the report.

EXPORT | Only 10% of exported cashew from Nigeria processed – FG

Nigeria's government said only ten percent of the about 250,000mt of cashew exported from Nigeria in 2022 were processed but that the entire export generated over $250 million.

PORTS | Onne port generated over N242 billion in 2022 - Customs

• Comparatively, when I took over in September 2020, total revenue of N118 billion was generated by the command, and in 2021, an improved revenue to the tune of N188.6 billion representing more than N54 billion increase was generated by the command.

UPCOMING TRAINING - PORT HARCOURT

A MESSAGE FROM GGI

Climate Action: With exploration comes the need for expertise and sustainability

At GGI, we combined expertise, innovation and sustainable practices in meeting our client's engagements. Our actions to mitigate climate change are central to making the world a better place. Learn more.

IEOM

The Institute of Export Operations & Management, as a Trade Support Institute is out to stimulate and facilitate non-oil export in Nigeria. Our vision is to become the foremost independent provider of export training and best research practice in Nigeria. In line with our mission, our intensive training progams both online and on-premise among others are designed to optimize your trade capacity and knowledge. We actualize this through the following:

• Access to Low-Interest Loan from our partner Bank*

• Export breakfast meetings

• The Export Brief magazine

• Seminars and workshops

• Banker and Exporter training

• Trade access and facilitation

Trade Intelligence Unit (TIU) is a division of IEOM Nigeria, providing export trade information, research, insights and analytics for organizations, agencies of government, businesses and individuals to help them make informed decisions. We help our clients by leverage on our proprietary tools to create access into our rich trade database in delivering innovative solutions.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.*We have partnered with Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria in creating access to low-interest loans for our MSMEs members.For enquiries on memberships, trainings and collaboration on sponsorships of events, newsletters and magazine you can reach us on+234 909 332 8361, +234 808 302 [email protected].

THE COVER PAGE

Goldman Sachs secretly controls the world, if you believe conspiracy theorists. Even commentators without tinfoil hats sometimes get carried away when describing this titanic investment bank. Rolling Stone once accused it of having “engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression”, adding for good measure that it was “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”.

• In the latest cover package, it tells a different story. A firm famed for its swagger has started to sag. It has given up on a plan to build a big consumer bank; booked one of its worst quarterly results for a decade; and attracted a probe by the Federal Reserve. It is not yet in trouble, but under its short-fused boss, David Solomon, it has lagged behind its American peers half the time.

• Its pedestrian performance suggests several lessons. The real action in finance is now outside regulated banking, where new stars rule, such as Blackstone in private markets, BlackRock in index funds and Citadel in investing and trading. It is hard for old-style Wall Street firms to compete in winner-takes-all digital markets, where PayPal and Amazon have far more clients. And it is striking how the stagnation of globalisation has shrunk Wall Street’s horizons. Goldman gets much less of its growth from foreign revenues than it did when it listed in 1999. Indian and Chinese rivals have bulked up and are often stronger than any foreign firm on their home turf.

• Perhaps Goldman can recover its swagger, by managing assets better or pioneering new technology to cut its exorbitant labour costs. But there is something uniquely hard about reforming elite firms whose unwritten code is that they are smarter than everyone else. If the squid is to avoid becoming a squib, it needs to learn how to be self-critical.

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TWEET OF THE WEEK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

CONGRATULATIONS: Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Turkey was appointed as the new chair of WTO agriculture negotiations. He will also steer the negotiations on cotton. Image Credit: WTO