Agriculture - Intelpoint

Despite Trump tariffs, US imports from Africa surged 24% to $23.4B in H1 2025

US imports from Africa grew 23.9% year-on-year to $23.4 billion in H1 2025.
South Africa drove much of the growth, with exports surging 52.2% to $9.5 billion.
Nigeria recorded a 12.1% decline in exports to the US, falling to $2.8 billion.
Algeria also posted a contraction, with exports dropping 13.5% to $1.1 billion.
Egypt’s exports increased 14.8%.
Other African countries collectively expanded exports by 23.5% to $8.6 billion.
Africa’s trade growth with the US continues despite tariff barriers, showing resilience.

US trade deficit with South Africa nearly doubled to $6.3 billion in H1 2025

US imports from Africa jumped 24% to $23.4 billion in H1 2025 despite tariffs.
Egypt led gains, doubling its surplus with the US to $2.73 billion.
Nigeria swung into a $576 million surplus, reversing last year’s deficit.
South Africa’s deficit with the US nearly doubled to $6.32 billion, dragging the overall balance.

US trade deficit with South Africa nearly doubled to $6.3 billion in H1 2025

US imports from Africa jumped 24% to $23.4 billion in H1 2025 despite tariffs.
Egypt led gains, doubling its surplus with the US to $2.73 billion.
Nigeria swung into a $576 million surplus, reversing last year’s deficit.
South Africa’s deficit with the US nearly doubled to $6.32 billion, dragging the overall balance.

Nigeria’s foreign trade

Total Trade Volume in Q1 2025 stood at ₦36.02 trillion, with exports totalling ₦20.6 trillion and imports at ₦15.4 trillion, resulting in a surplus of ₦5.17 trillion.
Crude oil dominates Nigeria’s export trade, accounting for the largest share of export revenue. -
Other petroleum oil products are also a major export item, reflecting the significance of both raw and refined oil-based commodities in Nigeria’s trade portfolio. -
On the import side, manufactured goods dominate, showing Nigeria’s continued reliance on foreign machinery, technology, and consumer goods.
While Nigeria exports mostly raw and oil-based products, it imports refined, processed, or industrial goods, indicating a structural trade gap and limited local industrial capacity. -
Agricultural and raw material goods feature on both sides of trade, but their value is significantly less than petroleum-related trade.

China dominated Nigeria’s generator market in 2024, supplying nearly 70% of imports

Nigeria imported $281 million worth of generator sets in 2024.
China remained the dominant supplier, accounting for $195 million, or nearly 70% of total imports.
Other top suppliers included India ($20.6M), Germany ($15.4M), and South Korea ($16.5M).
Compared to 2023, imports from China dipped slightly (from $202M to $195M), and other countries like Germany and India also saw declines.
The data captures a wide range of generator types — petrol, diesel, wind-powered, and rotary converters — under HS Code 8502.
Mirror data reflects only officially reported trade and excludes informal or undocumented imports.

Between 1961 and 2022, African wine production decreased by 43%, with recent years’ production levels falling below the volume in the 1960s and 1970s

Key Takeaways:

African wine production peaked in 1965 at 2.39 million tonnes, the highest level recorded during the entire period.
The most dramatic single-year drop occurred between 1965 and 1966, when production fell by 40%, from 2.39 to 1.44 million tonnes.
A gradual recovery began in the early 2000s, with production consistently exceeding 1 million tonnes from 2003 onward.
The most recent peak occurred in 2021, with production reaching 1.23 million tonnes, a 48.5% decline from the 1965 high.
Despite this partial recovery, current production levels remain well below the highs of the 1960s.
As of 2022, African wine production stood at 1.16 million tonnes, representing a 43% decrease from 1961.

Egypt produced over 10.2 million tonnes of tomatoes at its 2009 peak, topping Africa for 63 straight years

Egypt led every single year from 1961 to the most recent year — 63 years of dominance.
Egypt peaked at over 10.2 million tonnes in 2009, no other African country came close.
As of 2023, Egypt ranked 5th globally, just ahead of Italy and behind the US.
Nigeria hit its highest level in 2015, with 4.2 million tonnes.
Nigeria was the only country that got within 1.5 million tonnes of Egypt in 13 different years.
Countries like Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia remained consistent but far behind Egypt and Nigeria.
Egypt’s lead is backed by large-scale irrigation and strong export systems.
In 1987, Africa supplied 11.7% of the world’s tomatoes. But by 2023, its share dropped to 8.8%.

How Africa’s cotton production moved: Egypt’s long rule and West Africa’s rise

Egypt dominated African cotton production for decades, from the 1960s to the early 2000s, standing far ahead of other African countries in both volume and quality.
The early 2000s marked a major turning point, as West African countries — especially Burkina Faso and Mali — began to overtake Egypt in total production.
Burkina Faso emerged as the new cotton leader between 2005 and 2015, topping production in key years like 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012–2015, and later reclaiming the top spot in 2020 and 2022.
Mali built its cotton strength after 2015, becoming Africa’s number one producer multiple times, peaking at over 334,000 tonnes in 2019.
Benin and Côte d’Ivoire quietly closed the gap throughout the 2010s, consistently ranking in the top three, even though they didn’t dominate the number one spot.

13 northern states, including the FCT, produced a combined 56% of the nation's corn output on average in 2 years

Key Takeaways:

Kaduna led national corn production on average, contributing 8% of total output, between 450,000 and 947,000 metric tons.
Niger, Gombe, Borno, Plateau, and Taraba followed closely, each accounting for 5–6% of the total output on average.
Corn production is heavily concentrated in the North-Central and North-East regions.
Kaduna and Niger together accounted for 14% of Nigeria’s corn output on average.
The top 10 corn-producing states, all located in northern Nigeria, on average contributed 47% of the national total.
Southern states such as Osun and Ondo contributed modest but notable shares, each representing 3% of national production on average.

India has led global cashew production for 35 of the past 62 years

Nigeria held the top spot in global cashew production from 2001 to 2010. This highlights a period of strong agricultural output, though the country has since been overtaken by India and Côte d'Ivoire. In recent years, Côte d'Ivoire has emerged as the world’s leading cashew producer, holding the top spot for three consecutive years as of 2022. This shift highlights the country's growing role in global cashew production. India and Mozambique once dominated global production, with India leading for 35 of the past 62 years.

1 2 3 Next