Determinants of export of Nigerian fishery products: A bounds testing cointegration approach

Abstract

The recent downturn of the Nigerian economy occasioned by the fall in global oil price calls for economy diversification. In this regard, the Nigerian fishery resources undoubtedly stands as a potential means of diversifying foreign exchange earnings for the economy if well explored. Hence the study sought to investigate factors that influence export of Nigerian fishery products. Secondary data, covering the period of 1976-2015, sourced from Food and Agriculture Organisation, Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics was used for the study. Data analysis was carried out using autoregressive distributed lag (3,2,1,0,4,1) model. Estimates revealed the existence of significant short-run and long-run relationship between the fish export volume and the explanatory macro-variables such as the price of fishery products at global market, lagged quantity of export, exchange rate of U.S. dollar to naira, quantity of domestic fish production and consumer price index with the exception of gross domestic product exhibiting only short-run relationship. The study thus suggests that policy makers should institutionalise additional policies that will support an optimum exchange rate regime and more production of fishery products for an enhanced export basket of Nigerian fisheries sector.