Nigeria’s foreign trade volume dips to N8.3tn

Chinazor Megbolu

The country’s total foreign trade volume has decreased to N8.3 trillion the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The report further stated that import and export rose marginally by 0.8 per cent year on year, when compared to the N8.24 trillion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

The NBS report obtained on Tuesday maintained that the country’s total foreign trade decreased by 18 per cent in Q1 of 2020, from N10.12 trillion in the Q4 of 2019 to N8.3 trillion at the end of Q1 2020.

The report indicated that the drop reflected the early effects of disruption as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.

NBS also highlighted that as at the end of Q1 2020, the nation’s total foreign trade balance remained in the negative angle, which shows that in Q1 2019, the total import for the period stood at N4.22 trillion and total export stood at N4.08 trillion, pointing a negative trade balance of N138.99 billion.

The report, however, shows that the value of total imports decreased by 21.08 per cent in Q1, 2020 if compared to the value recorded in Q4, 2019 but was 13.99 per cent higher when compared with Q1, 2019.
Also, the value of imported agricultural goods, the NBS noted increased by 12.02 per cent in Q1 2020 compared to Q4 2019 and 10.62 per cent more than Q1 2019.

“The value of Agricultural goods exports grew 85.36 per cent in Q1, 2020 compared to Q4, 2019. Manufactured goods exports decreased by 12.72 per cent in value in Q1, 2020 compared to Q4 2019,”

the NBS report said.

Furthermore, the report, pointed out that crude oil export in the terms of N2.94 trillion dropped by 18.9 per cent in Q1 2020 compared to N3.63 trillion recorded in Q4 2019 and dropped to its lowest in 11 quarters since Q2 2017 when the total crude oil export was estimated at N2.43 trillion.
The estimate also indicated that non-crude oil export (N1.14 trillion) reduced marginally by 0.27 per cent as against N1.14 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter Q4 2019.

“It is worth noting that value of exported agricultural goods stood at N126.35 billion in Q1 2020, indicating 85.36 per cent increase compared to N68.16 billion recorded in Q4 2019.

“The majorly traded agricultural products include; Sesamum seeds, Good fermented cocoa beans, superior quality raw cocoa beans, Natural cocoa butter, Cashew nuts, Ginger etc.,”

NBS report said.