Stakeholders have expressed disappointment with Nigeria and the rest of Africa’s share in global manufacturing exports.

They submitted that the continent’s share has been stagnant for years at less than one per cent despite repeated calls for rapid industrialization.

According to them, Africa’s manufacturing landscape is characterised by a meagre share of global value-added output and export flows, despite abundant raw materials and a growing workforce that are necessary for industrial production.

This was contained in a recent Afreximbank report, ‘Promoting Manufacturing Exports: A study of Africa’s Manufacturing Landscape’, which also reiterated the urgent need to boost manufacturing exports and how to achieve it.

Lamenting that the African region lags behind other regions in industrialization, the report noted that prioritising manufacturing can drive Africa’s economic transformation by creating jobs, enhancing technological capabilities, and fostering inclusive growth.

“Between 1996-2020, sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) contribution to global manufacturing exports and value-added has been abysmally poor, averaging less than one per cent and a little more than one per cent, respectively. This contribution contrasts with East Asia’s contribution, 34 per cent in global manufacturing exports and 28 per cent in global manufacturing value added. SSA exhibited the highest global export earnings from natural resource commodities, averaging 53 per cent of total merchandise exports between 2010 and 2022,” it stated.

The report noted that an industrialization-centric structural change policy has enabled several emerging and developing economies in Asia and North America to narrow their income gap with advanced economies, adding that African economies still need to catch up in the economic convergence race.

It stated: “Manufacturing exports stimulate job creation, technology diffusion, and economic linkages. For every manufacturing job created, additional jobs emerge in related sectors, enhancing overall economic resilience.

“Promoting African manufacturing exports is critical to enhance the continent’s socioeconomic development. However, achieving this would require a multifaceted strategy that tackles soft and hard trade facilitation deficiencies, including resolving the huge infrastructure gap, implementing effective policy reforms, and fostering public-private partnerships. Africa exhibits the lowest manufacturing productivity at 21.43 per cent, highlighting the continent’s struggle with industrialisation from 1960 to 2018. The low performance is attributed to inadequate infrastructure, limited access to capital, and overreliance on commodity specialisation, which has significantly impeded the sector’s growth.”

On challenges hindering manufacturing export growth, the report listed infrastructure deficits including limited transport, energy, and communication infrastructure, which increase production costs and delay trade; regulatory and policy barriers such as high tariffs, complex customs processes, and inconsistent trade policies; market access issues; structural weaknesses, and over-reliance on primary commodities.

“The sector’s ability to absorb large labour forces and integrate into global production networks is crucial for economic convergence and innovation. However, reliance on natural resources diverts attention from manufacturing, hindering economic diversification. Policy measures should focus on diversifying exports, particularly in labour-intensive industries; building manufacturing capacity and increasing skills development; strengthening value chains to increase specialisation and competitiveness and formulating a robust industrial policy framework to capitalise on manufacturing’s potential,” the report submitted.