Nigeria exported Sesame worth N700bn in 2024 – NEPC
The Executive Director of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nonye Ayeni has disclosed that Nigeria has now become the second largest exporter of Sesame in Africa, and fourth in the world, while exporting a total of N700billion products in 2024. Ayeni made the disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday at the STDF 845 project for […]
The Executive Director of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nonye Ayeni has disclosed that Nigeria has now become the second largest exporter of Sesame in Africa, and fourth in the world, while exporting a total of N700billion products in 2024.
Ayeni made the disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday at the STDF 845 project for Sesame and Cowpea.
She said, “The project is a 3-year co-funded project between the International Trade Centre and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to enhance the quality of Nigeria’s Sesame and Cowpea export by ensuring compliance with pesticide residue levels and aims to reduce rejections of Nigerian cowpea and sesame exports in the global market.”
She said the market value of Sesame in the international market stood at $7.67 billion in 2025, and is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.3% in 2030.
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“Only last year, Nigeria exported $463.827 million worth of sesame seed in the global market reaffirming the huge value the commodity brings to the economic growth of the non-oil export sector. Nigeria is the second largest exporter of sesame seeds in Africa and third in the world while the product is exported mainly to Europe, North America, the Far East, and the Middle East.
These underscore the importance of the STDF 845 project and the need for a baseline study. The Baseline Study of cowpea and Sesame is critical in understanding current practices, procedures, and regulations with respect to sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards,” she explained.
Also speaking, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole noted that Nigeria is the fourth-largest producer of sesame globally, with Japan alone representing 40% of Sesame exports but have recently experienced setbacks due to sanitary conditions of many products.
To tackle this, she said, “The ministry will ensure streamlining of regulatory processes and sensitise MSMEs to put all their products in good sanitary shapes to avoid export rejects.”