Indications that current fiscal and monetary policy reforms of the Federal Government are impacting positively on the nation’s economy have emerged as Nigeria’s merchandise trade surplus surged by 66.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N12.59 trillion in the second quarter of this year, from N7.55 trillion recorded the preceding quarter.
The latest ‘Nigeria Foreign Trade for Q2 2026’ report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday showed that the nation’s total merchandise trade value stood at N41.44 trillion, comprising exports of N27.02 trillion and imports of N14.42 trillion.
According to the data, the Q2 2026 surplus is N5.04 trillion higher than the N7.55 trillion surplus in the preceding quarter.
The statistics agency attributed the surplus primarily to Nigeria’s exports, which rose by 27.64 per cent quarter-on-quarter, from N21.17 trillion in Q1 to N27.02 trillion in Q2, while the imports marginally rose by 5.91 per cent, from N13.62 trillion in Q1 this year to N14.42 trillion in the quarter under review.
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An analysis of the report’s data on a year-on-year basis, indicated that the nation’s exports by increased 18.77 per cent from N22.75 trillion in Q2 last year, while imports declined 12.55 per cent from N16.49 trillion.
The data showed that exports accounted for 65.20 per cent of the total merchandise trade value in the quarter compared with 34.80 per cent for imports.
The Bureau reported that in the second quarter under review, crude oil remained Nigeria’s largest export source, valued at N12.91 trillion, representing 47.79 per cent of total exports and increasing by 15.28 per cent quarter-on-quarter from N11.20 trillion recorded in Q1 2026. The other oil products also recorded a strong performance, with exports rising 53.05 per cent to N10.38 trillion in the quarter from N6.78 trillion in Q1 2026.
The statistics agency reported that Nigeria’s non-crude exports rose to N14.11 trillion in the second quarter this year or 52.21 per cent of total exports, contributing N3.73 trillion, representing 13.80 per cent.
A further analysis of the non-oil export performance reflected a mixture as the nation’s Raw material exports surged 50.31 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N2.31 trillion, while solid mineral exports rose 42.91 per cent to N146.91 billion.
However, the data revealed that Agricultural exports dropped by 31.51 per cent from N1.17 trillion in the preceding quarter to N802.99 billion, while manufactured goods exports increased 29.87 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N393.03 billion, both lower by 51.10 per cent compared to their export value in Q2’25 level.
On the import side, in the quarter under review, imported Manufactured goods remained dominant, rising 12.10 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N9.51 trillion, Raw material imports increased 13.12 per cent to N1.79 trillion, while Agricultural imports rose by 45.43 per cent to N1.20 trillion.
As has been the trend in the recent quarters, China remained Nigeria’s leading import source, while India emerged as the top export destination during the quarter under review.
