Afrigather 5 main producers within the consumer goods industry noticed their export gross sales rise by 37 % final 12 months largely on the again of the liberalisation of the overseas change regime.
BusinessDay evaluation of the newest monetary statements of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, and Okomu Oil Palm Plc reveals that their mixed export income elevated to N16.99 billion from N12.38 billion in 2022.
Unilever recorded the very best progress in export gross sales of 145.9 % progress, adopted by Cadbury, 123.5 %; Nigerian Breweries, 59.2 %; and Okomu Oil Palm, 44.5 %.
“The rise we’re seeing in exports is a pure consequence of the devaluation that occurred for different causes or components, not intentionally attributable to the federal government to extend exports,” Gabriel Idahosa, president and chairman of the council of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Trade, mentioned.
He mentioned international locations typically devalue their currencies to spice up exports. “However in Nigeria, it’s not a deliberate coverage resolution to devalue the foreign money to extend exports.”
Paul Odunaiya, managing director/chief government officer at Wemy Industries Restricted, instructed BusinessDay in an interview final 12 months that the foreign money depreciation was serving to his enterprise when it comes to exports and that one of many African international locations that the corporate exports to is Mali.
“The devaluation of our foreign money helped us to enter the market due to the CFA,” he mentioned.
The FX reform carried out final June as a part of the Federal Authorities’s measures to revive the economic system has led to a big devaluation of the naira.
When the naira depreciated, the West African CFA franc, a authorized tender in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo appreciated.
This made some items produced in Nigeria cheaper than different African international locations. On the official market, the naira depreciated from 463.38/$ on June 9 to 1,435.5/$ as of February 2, 2024. The naira depreciated in opposition to the West African CFA franc from 0.76 per CFA1 on June 9 to 1.98 per CFA1 as of February 2.
“The naira devaluation helps exporters to convey FX again into the nation which implies extra naira for them. However it’s important to do not forget that their value of manufacturing is growing,” Odiri Erewa-Meggison, chairman of the Producers Affiliation of Nigeria Export Promotion Group, mentioned.
Additional findings from the statements revealed that Nestle was the one agency with a 65.4 % decline in export income to N1.18 billion in 2023 from N3.41 billion in 2022.
Unilever recorded 145.9 % progress in export income to N2.68 billion from N1.09 billion.
Cadbury recorded a 123.5 % progress in export income to N4.85 billion from N2.17 billion and Nigerian Breweries reported a 59.2 % enhance in export income to N336 million from N211 million.
Okomu Oil Palm recorded a 44.5 % enhance in export income to N7.95 billion from N5.5 billion.
