The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has revealed that the decline in Nigeria’s raw material exports by N285 billion can be attributed to the government’s neglect of the productive sector.
An analysis of Foreign Trade Statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed raw materials exports fell to N345.5 billion in the first half of 2023, compared to N630.5 billion in the same period in the prior year.
A breakdown of the H1 2023 figure indicated that the country shipped out N200 billion worth of raw materials in Q1 and N145 billion in Q2, instead of N259.4 billion in Q1 and N371.10 billion in Q2 2022.
While speaking in an interview with Punch, Francis Meshioye, the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, blamed high production costs as being responsible for the country’s declining exports.
According to him, local manufacturers cannot be competitive in terms of price with manufacturers from other countries who produce at lower costs.
“We will tell our members to do more, but all these things are based on competitive advantages. If you want to export a product, it is fine, but at what cost are you going to export it?
“What will be your price? If the cost is astronomically high, it will be difficult to export. It is a circle.
“Of course, the export base should be good enough to support the floated exchange rate, but we need to have a good economic base to do that.”
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