By Aduragbemi Omiyale
In the first quarter of 2022, Nigeria recorded a trade surplus of N1.200 trillion after reporting N5.901 trillion as the value of total imports and N7.101 trillion as the value of total exports in the period under consideration.
In the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), it was stated that the total imports were, however, lower than the N5.941 trillion achieved in the fourth quarter of 2021 by 0.67 per cent but rose by 21.04 per cent when compared with the N4.875 trillion recorded in the first quarter of last year.
A breakdown showed that agricultural imports in Q1 of 2022 were N443.36 billion, lower than the N667.16 billion in Q4 of 2021 by 33.55 per cent, but higher than the N409.03 billion in Q1 of 2021 by 8.39 per cent.
In the period under review, the value of raw material imports was N538.53 billion, solid minerals were N41.09 billion, energy goods reported N10 million, imported manufactured goods recorded N2.972 trillion, while other oil products imports stood at N1.906 trillion.
The major import trading partners were China at 25.55 per cent, the Netherlands at 10.49 per cent, Belgium at 9.55 per cent, India at 7.04 per cent and the United States at 5.72 per cent.
As for the exports side, the N7.101 trillion was 137.88 per cent higher than the N2.985 trillion achieved in Q1 of 2021 and 23.13 per cent higher than the N5.767 trillion reported in Q4 of 2021.
Agricultural goods exports stood at N201.59 billion in the period under review versus N132.71 billion in the last quarter of 2021 and N127.31 billion in the corresponding quarter of last year.
Raw material goods exports in Q1 of 2022 stood at N259.48 billion, solid minerals reported N19.69 billion, energy goods posted N15.36 billion, manufactured goods exports printed N219.08 billion, crude oil exports stood at N5.621 trillion, whole other oil products exports recorded N764.27 billion.
The major export trading partners were India at 16.57 per cent, Spain at 9.54 per cent, the Netherlands at 9.30 per cent, Indonesia at 6.68 per cent and the United States at 5.25 per cent.
The stats office further disclosed that Nigeria’s total trade stood at N13.001 trillion, higher than the N11.707 trillion reported in the fourth quarter of 2021 and higher than the N7.860 trillion achieved in the same period of last year.
