Yemisi Izuora
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says that the total value of Nigeria’s trade increased from N6 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2017 to N7.21 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2018, representing a growth of 19.7 per cent.
The report placed on its website on Wednesday titled “Foreign Trade Statistics” showed the strong growth of trade in Q1 was as a result of a good increase in export.
In addition, Nigeria’s trade balance increased by 20.95 per cent to a surplus of N2.17 trillion when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.
The trade balance also increased by 221 per cent from the N677 billion recorded as the trade balance for the first quarter of 2017.
It is the first quarter in two years Nigeria has recorded a trade balance that exceeded N2 trillion.
The total value of Nigeria’s exports amounted to N4.69 trillion which is a 20 per cent increase from the N3.91 trillion recorded in the previous quarter and a 56 per cent increase from the N3 trillion recorded for Q1 of 2017.
Raw materials and solid minerals contributed N32.70 billion and N26.92 billion to the total export value respectively.
Agriculture contributed N73.24 billion to the total export value, a 63.84 per cent increase from the previous quarter while Energy goods exported were valued at N10.39 billion, while manufactured goods exported in the first quarter were valued at N434.37 billion.
Crude oil exports in the first quarter were valued at N3.58 trillion, making it the largest contributor to the total export value. This represents 10 per cent higher than the N3.25trillion recorded in the previous quarter and 50.74 per cent higher than the N2.3 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2017.
Other oil products exported contributed N535.8 billion to the total export value.
Nigeria’s main export trading partners in Q1 were Netherlands (20.5 per cent), India (18.2 per cent), Spain (8.3 per cent), the United States of America (8.2 per cent) and France (6.3 per cent).
The total import value for the first quarter of 2018 was N2.51 trillion, 19.22 per cent higher than the N2.1 trillion recorded the previous quarter and 8.04 per cent higher than the N2.3 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2018.
Manufactured goods and other oil products were the largest contributors to the total import trade value at N1.1 trillion and N846.31 billion, respectively.
Raw materials and Agriculture contributed N284.81 billion and N184.49 billion to the total import trade figure respectively.
Of the total trade imports, energy goods amounted to N32.4 million, while solid minerals accounted for N12.62 billion
Nigeria’s major import trading partners for the quarter were China (21.1 per cent), Netherlands (12.1 per cent), Belgium (10.6 per cent), USA (6.5 per cent), and India (6.3 per cent).