Nigeria’s foreign trade declines in Q2 2022 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday disclosed that Nigeria’s foreign trade fell to N12.8 trillion in the second quarter of this year from N13 trillion in the previous quarter.

The statistics office disclosed this in its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report for Q2’ 2022.

The report said foreign trade in Q2 2022 consisted of exports valued at N7.4 trillion and imports worth N5.4 trillion.

NBS added that the value of crude oil exports, which accounted for 79.7 per cent of total exports in the quarter, rose by 5.1 per cent to N5.9 trillion from N5.6 trillion in Q1 2022.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s total merchandise trade stood at ₦12.8 trillion in the quarter indicating a marginal decrease of 1.5 per cent over the value recorded in the quarter prior, and 32 per cent higher when compared to the value recorded in Q2 2021.

“The value of total export stood at N7.4 trillion in Q2 2022, the value accounted for 57.7 per cent of total trade,” the NBS said.

“The export value rose in Q2’22 by 4.3 percent against the level recorded in Q1’22 and by 47.5 per cent when compared to Q2’21.

“Exports by section revealed that Nigeria exported mainly mineral products which amounted to ₦6.7 trillion, or 91.46 percent of total export value; followed by ‘Products of the chemical and allied industries’, which were valued at N318.51billion (or 4.3 per cent of the value of total exports) and ‘Vegetable products’ worth N100.12billion (1.35 percent of the value of total exports).

“The value of exports trade in Q2’22 was dominated by crude oil exports valued at N5.9 trillion which accounted for 79.7 percent of total exports while non-crude oil exports value stood at N1.49 trillion or 20.2 percent of total exports of which non-oil products contributed N675.08 billion representing 9.11 percent of total exports.”

The NBS said that in the second quarter of 2022, total imports were valued at N5.4 trillion accounting for 42.3 per cent of total trade.

The import value fell by 7.9 per cent in Q2 2022 compared to the value recorded in Q1 2022 but increased by 15.8 percent compared to the imports value in Q2 2021.

The report added that Nigeria’s exports to her trading partners show that India remained the top export destination during the quarter under review.

The top five export destinations were India, Spain, The Netherlands, The United States of America and Indonesia and with goods valued at N1.09 trillion (14.85 per cent), N1.03 trillion (13.98 per cent), N914.46 billion (12.35 per cent), N661.19 billion (8.93 per cent), and N625.65 billion (8.45 per cent) of export trade respectively.

These five countries collectively accounted for 58.55 per cent of the total exports of the quarter under review, the report said.