By Adedapo Adesanya
In the whole of 2023, the total trade value carried out by Nigeria was N71.88 trillion, about 37 per cent higher than the N52.38 trillion recorded in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Friday in its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q4 2023) Repor.
This report stated that the total trade value, made up of imports and exports, comprised total imports of N35.92 trillion, and total exports of N35.96 trillion, resulting in a trade surplus of N44.77 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the country’s total trade stood at N26.8 trillion of which total exports stood at N12.69 trillion and total imports amounted to N14.11 trillion, translating to a trade deficit of N1.42 trillion.
However, total exports increased in the fourth quarter by 22.7 per cent and 99.6 per cent when compared with the amount recorded in the third quarter of 2023 (N10.35 trillion) and the corresponding quarter in 2021 (N6.36 trillion), respectively.
In the same vein, total imports increased by 56.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the value recorded in the third quarter of the year (N9.04 trillion) and surged by 163.1 per cent when compared with the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021 (N5.36 trillion).
The NBS report showed that the re-export’s value in the quarter under review stood at N50.91 billion representing 0.4 per cent of total exports.
The top five re-export destinations were Malaysia, Equatorial, Cameroun, Italy, Ghana, and the Netherlands while the most re-exported commodity was ‘Vessels and other floating structures for breaking up’ with N13.67 billion, this was followed by ‘Mechanically propelled vessels for the transport of goods, gross tonnage > 500 tonnes’ valued at N6.76 billion and ‘Other machinery of heading 84.30, not self-propelled’ amounting to N6.26 billion.
The top five export destinations in the fourth quarter of 2022 were the Netherlands with N1.9 trillion, India with N1.1 trillion, Spain with N1.03 trillion, Canada with N907.6 billion, and France with N799.8 billion accounting for 15.1 per cent, 8.7 per cent, 8.1 per cent, 7.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively of total exports.
Altogether, exports to the top five countries amounted to 45.3 per cent of the total value of exports.
The commodity with the largest export values in the period under review was ‘Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude’ with N10.3 trillion representing 81.2 per cent, followed by ‘Natural gas’ with N1.02 trillion accounting for 8.0 per cent, and ‘Urea, whether or not in aqueous solution’ with N251.9 billion or 1.98 per cent of total exports.
In terms of Imports (CIF), in the fourth quarter of 2023, Singapore, China, Belgium, India, and the United States of America were the top five countries of origin of imports to Nigeria.
The value of imports from the top five countries amounted to N9.7 trillion representing a share of 68.9 per cent of the total value of imports. The commodities with the largest values of imported products were ‘Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, motorized, whet’ worth N5.1 billion, ‘Motor Spirit Ordinary’ (N1.8 trillion), and ‘Gas Oil’ (N1.2 trillion).
