Nigeria’s foreign trade fell in Q4 2022 – NBS

Nigeria’s foreign trade fell in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to a decline in import trade, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The statistics bureau disclosed this in its Foreign Trade Goods Statistics Q4 2022 published on Thursday.

The NBS said total merchandise trade stood at N11.77 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022, indicating a decline of 4.52 per cent over the value recorded in the third quarter of 2022.

The figure also represents a slight rise of 0.13 per cent when compared to the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The statistical office said the export trade stood at N6.35 trillion showing an increase of 7.17 per cent over the value recorded in the preceding quarter and increased by 10.28 per cent over the preceding year’s corresponding period.

Also, it said the share of exports in total trade stood at 54.25 per cent in Q4, 2022.

On the other hand, the NBS said total imports were valued at N5.36 trillion in Q4 2022, indicating a decrease of 15.46 per cent over the value recorded in the preceding quarter. It fell by 9.73 per cent over what was recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

“The total imports value in the fourth quarter of 2022 accounted for 45.75 per cent of total trade. The balance however stood at N996.78 billion.

“The value of exports trade in the fourth quarter of 2022 was dominated by crude oil exports valued at N4.9 trillion which accounted for 77.24 per cent of total exports while non-crude oil exports value stood at N1.44 trillion or 22.76 per cent of total exports of which non-oil products contributed N732.24 billion representing 11.51 per cent of total exports,” it said.

The report added that Nigeria’s exports to her trading partners revealed that Spain was Nigeria’s top export destination during the quarter under review with the highest volume of export trade valued at N617.17 billion representing 9.70 per cent of total exports.

This was followed by The Netherlands, India, France, and Indonesia with goods valued at N574.55 billion (9.03 per cent), N490.45 billion (7.71 per cent), N489.82 billion (7.70 per cent), and N473.27 billion (7.44 per cent) of export trade, respectively.

These five countries collectively accounted for 41.59 per cent of the value of total exports in Q4 2022, the report said.