Lilypond Customs export value drops 14.4% to $792.56 million in Q2 2026

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Lilypond Export Command processed exports worth $792.56 million in the second quarter of 2026, down from $925.8 million in the first quarter. That is a quarter-on-quarter drop of $133.24 million, or 14.4%.

Comptroller Samuel Ariyibi, Customs Area Controller of the Lilypond Export Command, disclosed this at a news conference in Lagos on Wednesday. He said the command still performed better than a year earlier, with export value rising 24.35% from $599.60 million recorded in Q2 2025.

What the command said

Ariyibi said the command’s performance reflects its role as the country’s dedicated hub for containerised export processing.

“This report highlights our key operations as a command solely dedicated to the processing of containerised exports, following the consolidation directive of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi,” he said.

The command processed 5,510 export containers in Q2 2026, compared with 3,732 containers in the same period of 2025. That is an increase of 1,778 containers and a 32.27% growth in container throughput.

Sector breakdown

Agricultural exports remained the largest export segment but declined sharply from $608.46 million in Q1 to $422.08 million in Q2.

Manufactured goods rose from $297.36 million in Q1 to $350.67 million in Q2, reinforcing the sector’s growing contribution to non-oil exports and industrial diversification.

Solid mineral exports were weak, rising only slightly from $5.23 million in Q1 to $7.17 million in Q2, and staying far below 2025 levels. Customs attributed the decline to the government’s policy of encouraging local processing and value addition before export.

The Q2 data suggests that while manufacturing exports strengthened, the slowdown in agricultural exports weighed on the command’s overall export value compared with the previous quarter.

Context and outlook

The Lilypond Export Command has become a central part of Nigeria’s non-oil export infrastructure following the Customs Service’s consolidation of containerised export processing. Earlier, the command reported generating N7.1 billion in NESS revenue in the first quarter of 2025, highlighting the growing importance of export-related collections.

Customs also disclosed that the command processed 27,721 containers and non-oil exports valued at $1.586 billion between January and June 2025, underscoring its expanding role in facilitating export trade.

Industry operators say export documentation has increasingly been centralised through the Lilypond Export Command in Lagos, with approvals processed there before cargo is cleared for movement through major ports including Apapa, Tin Can Island, PTML, and Lekki.

For Nigerian businesses, the latest figures show that non-oil export earnings have cooled from the record first-quarter pace, but manufactured exports are gaining ground. That shift matters for the naira because stronger, value-added exports can support foreign exchange inflows over time.