Nigeria’s export to United States under African Growth and Opportunity Act policy declined in the first half of 2020 to $244.1m.

According to latest AGOA trade statistics, exports to US under the duty-free policy fell by 85 per cent to $244.1m in H1 2020 from $1.62bn in the same period of 2019.

AGOA, a US trade policy enacted in 2000, is a legislation that facilitates a duty-free trade between exporters from sub-Saharan Africa and the US.

Annual trade data showed the largest contribution towards AGOA-eligible trade commodities is usually oil exports mainly from Angola and Nigeria, and, to a lesser extent, Chad and the Republic of Congo.

For instance, oil export under the policy accounted for 99.7 per cent of Nigeria’s AGOA exports to the US in 2019.

According to the statistics, oil and gas products valued at $3.12bn were exported to the US under the policy in 2019.

However, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Ghana and Madagascar are among the leading non-oil AGOA exporters.

Also, Kenya, Ethiopia and Madagascar dominate the apparels sector.

Following the coronavirus-induced crash in oil prices earlier this year and declining demand, Nigeria had been struggling to sell its crude oil cargoes.

Prior to the lockdowns and collapse in crude oil demand caused by coronavirus crisis, production of US shale oil had led to a significant reduction in importation of Nigerian crude oil.

US import of Nigeria crude oil plunged by 63.03 per cent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the last quarter of 2019.

Data from US Energy Information Administration showed that the country imported 5.53 million barrels of crude oil from Nigeria in Q1 2020, down from 15.07 million barrels in Q4 2019.

Punch