The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported today the total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade in the first quarter of this year rose to N7,211.61 billion, representing 35.07 percent growth from the N5,339.24 billion value recorded in the first quarter of last year.
The agency also indicated that the value recorded in the quarter represented a 19.74 percent growth from the N6,022.93 billion value recorded in the last quarter of last year.
The NBS in its ‘Foreign Trade Statistics Q1, 2018’ report published today linked the strong growth of the merchandise trade in the reviewed quarter mainly to a 20.95percent increase in value of exports, which resulted in trade balance surplus of N2,175.08 billion.
It also reported that in the reviewed, the export value for Agricultural goods rose to N73.24 billion, representing a 63.84 percent higher than the value of N44.70 billion recorded Q4, 2017 and 24.01 percent higher than the N59.06 billion value recorded in the first quarter of last year.
The NBS disclosed that raw material exports value decreased by 13.62 percent in the first quarter of this year, amounting toN32.70 billion compared to the N37.85 billion recorded in Q2, 2017 but increased by 47.71 percent when compared to the N22.13 billion export value recorded in Q1, 2017.
A further classification of the merchandise trade on sectoral basis showed that Solid Minerals exports value grew by N26.92 billion or a 12.96 percent quarter-on-quarter growth over the N23.83 billion recorded in Q4, 2017, and a 58.50 percent year-on-year growth rate compared to the N16.98 billion value recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
The Bureau reported: “The value of Energy goods exported in Q1, 2018 (N10.39 billion) was 8.8% higher than that of Q4, 2017 (N9.55 billion) and 16.5% higher than the value in Q1, 2017 (N8.92 billion).
“Manufactured goods exports in Q1 2018 (N434.37 billion) saw significant growth by 684.11% over the previous quarter (N55.39 billion), and by 576.90% when compared to Q1, 2017 (N64.17 billion).
“The value of Crude Oil exports recorded in Q1, 2018 (N3,580.01 billion) was 10% higher than the value in Q4, 2017 (N3,251.61 billion) and 50.74% higher than the value in Q1, 2017 (N2,374.94 billion)”, it added.
It reported further that other oil products exports in Q1, 2018 amounting to N535.8 billion also rose steadily in the quarter under review, with a 10.53 percent growth from Q4, 2017, totalling N484.65 billion and a 15.92 percent growth from the value of N462.10 billion recorded in the first quarter of last year.
It noted that total export value amounted to N4,693.34 billion in the quarter under review, representing a significant growth of 20.02 percent over the N3,910.62 billion recorded in Q4, 2017 and 56.01 percent over the N3,008.33 billion reported in the corresponding quarter of last year..
The agency reported also that the quarter under review remained the first quarter in two years that the trade balance exceeded N2,000 billion.
