Nigeria Records N8.4trn Foreign Trades in Q3 2020

December 8, 2020
Nigeria's Foreign Trade

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria’s total foreign trade for the third quarter of 2020 rose by 34.2 per cent to stand at N8.4 trillion compared to N6.2 trillion recorded in the previous quarter.

This was contained in the recently released foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which also said in the first nine months of this year, the total trades stood at N23.2 trillion.

According to the report, total imports stood at N5.4 trillion in Q3 2020, 33.8 per cent higher than the N4.02 trillion recorded in Q2 2020. On a year-on-year basis, it increased by 38.0 per cent from N3.9 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2019.

In terms of export, the country recorded N2.99 trillion, 34.9 per cent higher than the N2.2 trillion recorded in Q2 2020, but 43.4 per cent lower than the N5.3 trillion recorded in Q3 2019.

Due to lower exports and higher imports, the trade balance recorded a deficit of N2.4 trillion between July and September 2020. Between April and June 2020, the country had a trade deficit of N1.8 trillion recorded in Q2.

It was disclosed in the NBS report that crude oil exports increased by 56.0 per cent to N2.4 trillion in the review period as against N1.6 trillion recorded in Q2 2020.

Meanwhile, non-crude oil exports, on the other hand, dropped by 14.6 per cent in the same period at N568.2 billion from N665.6 billion in the previous quarter. In the corresponding period of last year, the non-oil exports stood at N1.54 trillion.

In the third quarter of the year, Nigeria’s major export trading partners were India, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa, Turkey, while import trading partners were China, United States, Netherlands, India, and Belgium.

India accounted for 16.7 per cent (N500.6 billion) of the total value of exported goods, followed by Spain with N328.5 billion (10.9 per cent) and the Netherlands with N227.8 billion (7.6 per cent).

Others included South Africa with N203.9 billion (6.8 per cent) and Turkey N150.01 billion (5.0 per cent ).

On the other hand, China accounted for 30.5 per cent (N1.64 trillion) of Nigeria’s total import followed by the United States with N482.3 billion (8.9 per cent). The Netherlands, India, and Belgium made up the rest of the list with N443.5 billion (8.2 per cent), N354.1 billion (6.5 per cent ), and N212.3 billion (3.9 per cent).

Import by region showed that Asia is the largest destination with N2.6 trillion followed by Europe N1.8 trillion. Others include America – N746.4 billion, Africa – N175.4 billion and Oceania – N67.3 billion.

Nigeria’s export by region showed Europe as the lead destination N1.24 trillion trailed by Asia with N1.1 trillion, Africa amounted to N442.3 billion while America, N150.8 billion and Oceania – N44.7 billion.

Adedapo Adesanya

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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