Nigeria’s total trade, which comprises exports and imports, declined by 17.5 percent on a year-on-year basis to N12.05 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2023. In the comparable period of 2022, Nigeria’s total trade amounted to N14.59 trillion, the National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed.
But when compared to N11.72 trillion which was the total trade recorded at the end of the last quarter of 2022, Nigeria’s total trade in Q1 2023 rose by 2.8 percent.
Exports at the end of the first quarter of 2023, amounted to N6.48 trillion, representing an increase of 2 percent over N6.35 trillion recorded at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, but a reduction of 8.7 percent when compared to the country’s exports at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
“Total exports increased in the first quarter by 2.00% but declined by 8.66% when compared to the amount recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 (N6,359.61billion) and the corresponding quarter in 2022 (N7,102.11 billion) respectively. In the same vein, total imports increased by 3.67% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 (N5,362.83 billion) but then again declined by 25.83% when compared to the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (N7,495.67 billion),” NBS announced yesterday.
Imports for the period declined by 25.8 percent to N5.56 trillion compared to N7.49 trillion as of Q1 2022. But compared to Q4 2022, Nigeria’s Q1 2023 imports rose by 3.7 per cent.
Nigeria recorded a positive trade balance of N927.16 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2023, but still lower than N996.78 billion trade balance at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. In Q1 2022, trade balance was negative at N393.55 billion.
Crude oil exports amounted to N5.15 trillion at the end of Q1 2023, higher than the fourth quarter of 2022 by 4.8 percent, but lower than Q1 2022 by 8.4 percent.
Non-oil exports declined to N1.33 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to N1.44 trillion as of Q4 2022, and N1.48 trillion recorded as of March 2022.
Crude oil, natural gas, urea, superior cocoa beans and sesame seeds were the top five most exported items, as they generated N6.07 trillion revenue for Nigeria, which represented 93.6 percent of Nigeria’s total export earnings during the first quarter of this year.
On the other hand, refined petroleum products, gas oil, durum wheat, cane sugar, and aviation fuel were the most imported items during the first quarter of this year, amounting to N2.36 trillion, and representing 42.44 percent of the total cost expended on importation during the first quarter.
In terms of destination, The Netherlands, United States, Spain, France and Indonesia were the top five export destinations, with Nigerian exporters earning as much as N2.85 trillion from the clients in the aforementioned countries, from both oil and non-oil products.
On the import chart, China, the Netherlands, Belgium, India and the United States were the top five sources of Nigeria’s imports, with the cumulative value of imports amounting to N3.10 trillion, representing 55.8 percent of the total import values.
In spite of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) coming into force, the Ivory Coast is the only African country among the top ten destinations of Nigeria’s exports, as Nigerian businesses sold N3.91 billion worth of goods to clients in Ivory Coast, a mere 3.55 percent of the total export values during the quarter. And there was no African nation among the top ten sources of Nigeria’s imports as of Q1 2023.
