NBS
A sharp decrease in the value of imports relative to exports in the first quarter of this year has led to a significant drop in the value of Nigeria ’s trade.
The latest report of Foreign Trade Statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and made available to The Nation yesterday indicated that the total value of trade in the quarter under review stood at about N6.62 trillion, compared with about N8.53 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter.
The NBS data indicated that Nigeria’s imports by country of origin showed that China, United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, and India were Nigeria’s major trading partners with N265.3 billion, N196.1 billion, N190.6 billion, N169.9 billion, and N114.0 billion.
Similarly, the exports by country of destination trend in the period under review showed that India, United States, Netherlands, Spain, and Brazil were Nigeria’s leading trade partners with N688.5 billion, N609.7 billion, N482.1 billion, N390.4 billion and N328.9 billion.
An analysis of the trade value on export-import basis showed that Nigeria earned N4.97 trillion from exports with mineral products, mainly crude oil and gas exports, accounting for N4.19 trillion, while non-oil exports accounted for the balance.
Comparatively, total imports in the period under review stood at N1.56 trillion, a value indicating an increase of N255.20 billion or 18.3 per cent over that of imports in Q4, 2011.
However, the value decreased by about N1.45 trillion or 48 per cent cent when compared with the value of the corresponding quarter of 2011.
“The value of Nigeria ’s total merchandise in the first quarter (Q1) of 2012 stood at N6, 622.0 billion, compared to N8, 529.3 billion in the preceding quarter, a decrease of N1, 907.2 billion or 22.4 per cent. The change was as a result of a decline in the value of exports by N2, 162.5 billion or 30.3 per cent over that of the previous quarter.Year-on-year analysis revealed that the country’s value of total trade in Q1 of 2012 rose by N296.7 billion or 4.7 per cent over the value in Q1 (N6,325.3 billion) of 2011, the NBS stated.
“The balance of trade in Q1 2012 stood at N3, 317.5 billion, representing a decrease of N2, 417.7 billion or 42.2 per cent over the preceding quarter. This decrease is attributed to the decline in the value of exports (non-crude oil exports in particular) in the quarter under review.
“Year-on-year, the balance of trade increased substantially as a result of the decline in imports in Q1 2012 (especially the mineral products section) compared to the corresponding period in 2011.”
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