Nigeria’s Foreign Trade Increased To ₦13.3 Trillion In Q3 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed that Nigeria’s total foreign trade rose to ₦13.3 trillion in the third quarter of the year.

Naija News reports that this was disclosed on Monday by the Statistician-General of the Federation, Simon Harry, during a press briefing on the Q3 Foreign Trade Report held in Abuja.

According to Harry, the ₦13.3 trillion trade comprises ₦8.2 trillion imports and ₦5.1 trillion exports, resulting in a trade deficit of ₦3.03 trillion.

The NBS boss stated that total imports expenditure rose by ₦1.3 trillion from ₦6.95 trillion recorded in the second quarter of 2021.

He stated that the rise in imports was driven majorly by an increase in the importation of commodities such as motor spirits (N1.1 trillion), Gas Oil (N225.6 billion), imported motorcycles and cycles and CKD valued at ₦116.3 billion from ₦94.7 billion, respectively.

“Comparing 3 quarter to 2 quarter, 2021, total trade grew by 10.43% from ₦12,029.64 billion, export trade grew by 1.00% from ₦5,079.44 billion, import trade also grew by 17.32% from ₦6,950.21 billion,” Harry said.

The statistician general said crude oil dominated export trade in Q3, as total export of the commodity amounted to ₦4tn or 78.47 per cent of total export.

“This was followed by Natural gas, liquefied with ₦487.49 billion (9.50%), Floating or submersible drilling platforms with ₦163.70 billion (3.19%) and Urea, whether or not in aqueous solution with ₦107.17 billion (2.08%). On the other hand, imports were mainly motor spirit valued at N 1,052.5 billion (12.91%), Durum wheat valued at N 315.17billion (3.87%), Gas oil with ₦225.63 billion (2.77%), Used Vehicles N 185.41 billion (2.27%),” he added.

He listed Nigeria’s top five export trade partner during the review period as China (N2.4 trillion), India (N710.3 billion), the United States (N599.1 billion), Netherlands (N554.2 billion), and Belgium (N434.1 billion).

“The top five major trading partners in export trade during the 3rd Quarter, 2021 were India with ₦758.1 billion, Spain with ₦627.01 billion, Italy with ₦446.04 billion, France with ₦363.23 billion and Netherlands with ₦242.49 billion,” he added.