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It is great to know that Nigeria has finally signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), however, it is also very important to point out that this is not an end in itself but rather a means to an end. This is because, regional free trade agreement like the AfCFTA presents an opportunity to do more trade with member countries and thereby increasing productivity, GDP, per capita income, wealth and lifting many people in the countries involve out of poverty. However, this will only happen if the agreement is well implemented.

The signing of bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) among nations has become a common place in today's world. The aim of this kind of agreement is to remove the tariff and non-tariff barriers that hinders the free flow of trade among them. Apart from the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, other important features that are generating attention in the FTAs signed in recent times has include rules relating to the protection of rights to intellectual properties, rules on competition, rules on labour rights protection and on environmental protection. The FTAs have been described as viable tool that contributes significantly to the growth of export trade volumes of nations involve. Studies have shown that the bilateral trade volumes of some nations involve in an FTA experienced 100% growth within a period of 10years. This has been corroborated by other reports that showed an increase of over 400% in the trade volume of China within a space of 35years. This probably explains the reason why the number of both bilateral and regional FTAs signed among nations of the world has been on the increase since 1990s. According to World Trade Organisation (WTO), 319 regional FTAs were already in force as at January 2012. Another report showed that the number FTAs in force as of January 2013 have increase to 354. Despite the huge opportunities made available to businesses in nations around the world by continental, regional and bilateral FTA, it is sad to know that the utilisation of these agreement has remained low especially among the developing and under developed countries. Several surveys have been conducted across the world by numerous researchers in different countries and for different bilateral and regional trade agreements, to ascertain the level of utilization of the various FTAs and hence the impacts of these agreements on different countries and trading blocs. According to the report of the survey done by Thomson Reuters and KPMG International In 2016 only 23% of the respondent were fully utilising all the FTAs that are available to them. Contrary to this, the report of Pricewaterhouse Coopers on the same subject in 2018 showed that in Australia, 78% of the importers used at least one FTA when procuring any item from abroad while 62% of the exporters use at least one FTA to penetrate an export market…Continue in page 4

Ask any entrepreneur where he would prefer to sell his products and he will be quick to reply you that the best place to take such product is the export market. This is because apart from earning foreign exchange, there is a goodwill that goes with the international acceptability of a particular product.Exporting can be very rewarding in numerous ways. By selling your products and services in other markets, you spread your risks and reduce dependence on the Nigerian market alone.You are also able to increase your sales, productivity and become more efficient. Becoming an exporter also provides a platform to generate fresh ideas, new ways of doing business, and marketing techniques, among others.At a time when the government is implementing various measures to boost non-oil exports, experts said this has provided entrepreneurs with a platform to key into the economic diversification policy of government.Excerpt: Punch

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AfCFTA Implementation Strategies-Part-2:

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Pitfalls to Avoid When Exporting Products

Sharp Decline in Cotton Yarn Exports Worries

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INSIDETHIS ISSUEExport News:

AfCFTA Implementation

Strategies

-Part-2: The Challenges of

Regional Trade Agreement-1

- 1

Export Education:

Improving Export Trade Data in

Nigeria Through CBN TRMS

- 3

Export Training Products:

Exporter’s Companion

and more

- 3

Export Miscellaneous:

Commodity Prices,

Infographs, and lots more

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Export Programme:

Import Processes, LC & BC

and More

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VOLUME 4ISSUE 23

AfCFTA ImplementationStrategies

-Part-1:The CommitteeThe Challenges of

Regional Trade Agreement-1

Pitfalls To Avoid WhenExporting Products

The Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a United States' trade initiative to boost African exports to the US. The Act, which was passed in 2000 and extended four years to 2025, abolished import duties for more than 1,800 products manufactured in eligible sub-Sahara African countries, including Nigeria. The trade agreement primarily set out to galvanise the African economy covered 15 years and has since elapsed in 2015. For Nigeria's non oil products to be accepted, the standards must meet the requirements of the US. Nigeria and other Africa countries on the programme have failed to utilize the opportunity in the first 15 years, they have been given a second chance when the programme was extended by another 10 years. The President, Nigeria American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Chief Olabintam Famuti, however said that the country is now set to fully utilise the AGOA programme after under utilising its opportunities in the past.Famuti said it was appalling that as at 2014, Nigeria only exported $6 million worth of goods to the USA compared to $6billion accounted for by other Sub-Saharan African nations. Speaking at a public presentation of five books based on the art of exporting goods by Abiodun Oyefeso, the president of Success Edge Exporters Limited and a member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), export promotion council, Famuti said Nigeria's over reliance on oil was the reason for the present economic predicament.Excerpt: New Telegraph

for June 2018

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Page 2.

Shipments to main market China have almost halved'India's cotton yarn exports between April and June this year was 33% lower compared to the same period last year, leading to concern among textile mills.The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) has pointed out that cotton yarn exports from April to June 2019 was 226 million kg as against 338 million kg during the same period last year. In June, the exports were just 59 million kg, which is 50.74% less compared to June 2018.China is the main market for Indian cotton yarn exports. But, exports to China have dropped nearly 50%. Besides, exports to Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Columbia have also declined, Siddhartha Rajagopal, Executive Director of Texprocil, said.Excerpt: TheHindu.com

Kenya has just completed a deal to export 200,000 barrels of crude oil, in its first-ever export of the commodity, the African country's President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

“We are now an oil exporter. Our first deal was concluded this afternoon with 200,000 barrels at a decent price of US$12 million,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday.

“So I think we have begun our journey and it is up to us to ensure that those resources are also put to the best use to develop our country to make it both prosperous and to ensure we eliminate poverty in Kenya,” Kenyatta added.

Commercial quantities of crude oil in Kenya were discovered in 2012 in the South Lokichar Basin. Africa-focused Tullow Oil, which discovered the resources, has continued its exploration and appraisal drilling campaigns in Kenya.

A deal between Tullow Oil and local Kenyan authorities that would allow the oil company to pump water for the wells and that would be crucial to the FID for Kenya's first and currently only oil project could be pushed back to the third quarter, Martin Mbogo, Managing Director at Tullow Oil Kenya, said in February this year.

Excerpt: Oilprice.com

HEADLINESOTHER

Soon, Govt may Re-IntroduceCredit Insurance Schemefor Jewellery Exporters

– Business Standard

Nigeria: 'How AGOA VisaStamp Will Benefit

Garment Manufacturers'– Thisday

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 23

Sharp Decline In CottonYarn Exports Worries

Industry

Kenya To Export Its FirstEver Batch Of Crude

AGOA: Nigeria Failed ToUtilize Multibillion Dollar

Export Scheme

Turkey's Exports Rise Over8.3% in July: Minister

– Hurriyetdailynews.com

for June 2018

.

Page 3.

...Continue in page 1.

Other researchers, in 2017 reported that China exported 55.87% of the total products available for concession under the FTA between Pakistan and China while Pakistan could only utilise 5%. On the contrary, the utilisation among the member states of the European Union (EU) is reasonably high. The report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council showed that the EU utilisation of the FTA between Switzerland and EU in 2018 is about 80%. This report from EU was corroborated in another study carried out by Ecorys on The Netherlands in 2018 which showed that 83% of the respondent make use of FTAs in their import-export transactions while the remaining 17% do not use any form of FTAs in their international trade transaction.

Unlike the case in Europe, Australia and some other part of the world, the situation in Africa is very different because of the very low intra-African trade which consequently leads to a much lower FTA utilization. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, in 2015, only 18% of the total export from Africa were traded with other countries within the continent. This trend is also seen in all the regional FTAs within the continent. According to the this report, the share of intra-regional trade among countries that made up Southern African Development Community (SADC) was 20.7% and this is the highest among all the regional FTAs on the continent. The next to this is Eastern African Community (EAC) which has intra-regional trade share of just 10.6%. This is very close to that of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which equally recorded a very low intra-regional trade share of 10.0%.

The question then is, while are some FTA very successful while the others are not? This will be the focus of the part 3, which is the next edition of these series of articles on the AfCFTA Implementation Strategies. It is my hope that the government will adopt some of the recommendations that will be put forward at the end of these series of articles in order to make the implementation of the AfCFTA create the necessary jobs that will lift out of penury, the tens of millions of Nigeria that are currently living below the poverty line.

Source: Tradeinfong.com

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 23

AfCFTA ImplementationStrategies

-Part-2: The Challengesof Regional Trade

Agreement-1 -

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Export

Miscellaneous:

able to buy the raw materials.It is also interesting to know that no products would leave the shore of Nigeria, especially containerized items, without passing through Nigerian Customs Service. The question we should begin to ask is, whether the NCS is aiding the exportation of products out of Nigeria without documentation. The TRMS will be able to help answer that question if eventually NCS will have to see that the NXP for any transaction is registered on the TRMS before they will approve such a transaction for loading on the ship for exportation out of Nigeria.When CBN issued the policy that NXP number must be stated on the Bill of Lading, it was as if that will be the solution to ensuring that every export out of Nigeria is documented. But alas! The exported circumvented this. What has happened was that

It is also important for CBN to understand that the reason why some export data cannot be captured in Nigeria and put this into consideration in the development of the TRMS. This is because some foreigners are sent into Nigeria to export as a foreign representative of manufacturing companies. Another category use export to clean illicit funds via trade-based money laundering while the last category deliberately hides their export from the eyes of government to avoid the payment of tax. The individuals, who are foreigners should be of interest to CBN because, they come into Nigeria to buy commodities and ship them out to their companies who use these raw materials. Since they are not planning to set up any business in Nigeria, they partner with a Nigerian to be able to operate an account to receive dollar and convert it to Naira to be

exporters just simply concoct their own NXP number and they give it to the shipping line to put it on their Bill of Lading in line with the CBN regulation. If the shipping line is made to insist that they get the actual NXP document from NCS to extract the NXP number on the document themselves, this would have curb this menace of undocumented export but the CBN regulation was not thought through and therefore did not envisage these sharp practices and make hence no provision was made to prevent it...To be cont'd

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Zinc Ore Purity 35% 60MT Per Month

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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 23

Cont’d from previous issue

Improving Export Trade Datain Nigeria ThroughCBN TRMS

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ExportMiscellaneous

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