The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the coordinating agency for Nigeria’s statistical system, on Thursday reported that Nigeria’s foreign trade grew to N12.84 trillion in the second quarter of 2022, representing a 32.2% increase over the N9.71 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
However, the statistics agency in the report indicated that when compared to the previous quarter’s value, the Q2 figures decreased marginally by 1.2% from N13 trillion.
The report further reflected that international trade balance surged to N1.97 trillion, the highest in four years due to significant increase in export earnings compared to that of import bill.
Specifically, Nigeria earned N7.41 trillion from export in the period under review, compared to N5.02 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, indicating a 47.5% year-on-year increase.
On the other hand, import bill increased 15.8% year-on-year to N5.44 trillion but when compared with the previous quarter’s bill it declined by 7.9%.
A further breakdown of the report showed that crude oil export rose by 45.1% year-on-year to N5.91 trillion in Q2 2022, this is the highest on record based on data from the NBS. Also, non-crude oil export grew by 58.2% year-on-year to N1.49 trillion.
According to the Bureau, re-exports in the second quarter of 2022, which stood at N9.63 billion; decreased when compared to the N64.39 billion same quarter of 2021 and also, in the first quarter of 2022 (N115.80 billion) by 85.05% and 91.68% respectively.
It reported that in the quarter under review, the top five re-export destinations were Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroun and Turkey.
The agency further clarified that the most re-exported commodity groups were ‘Light vessels, fire-floats, floating cranes, and other vessels not specified in 8905’ (N2.99billion) followed by ‘Mechanically propelled vessels for the transport of goods, gross tonnage> 500 tonnes’ valued at (N2.55 billion) and ‘Mech. propelled vessels for the transport of goods, gross tonnage not specified in 8901’ amounting to (N2.53 billion).
On export destinations in Q2 2022, the Bureau reported that the top five were India with a share of 14.85%, followed by Spain with 13.98%, The Netherlands with 12.35%, the United States of America and Indonesia with 8.93% and 8.45% respectively and the five countries accounted for a share of 58.55% of the total value of exports (N7,406.53 billion).
It added that the commodity with the largest export values in the period under review was recorded in ‘Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude’ with N5,907.97 billion representing 79.77%, followed by ‘Natural gas, liquefied’ with N735.60 billion, accounting for 9.93%, and ‘Urea, whether or not in aqueous solution’ with N308.14 billion or 4.16% of total exports.
The agency clarified: “In terms of Imports (CIF), in the second quarter of 2022, China, Belgium, India, The Netherlands and the United States of America were the top five countries of origin of imports to Nigeria. “The values of imports from the top five countries amounted to N3,136.72 billion representing a share of 57.71% of the total value of imports. The commodity groups with the largest values among the top imported products were ‘Motor Spirit ordinary’ (N948.76 billion), ‘Gas Oil’ (N357.37billion), and ‘Durum wheat (Not in seeds)’ (N242.67 billion)”, the NBS added.
