A 7.89% or N160billion fall in total imports in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, dragged Nigeria’s total foreign trade down to over N12.841 trillion, compared to the N13.001 trillion recorded in the first quarter (Q1).
But the value is higher than N9.712 recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, according to the Foreign Trade Report released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report put Total Exports during the period at N7.406 trillion of which Re-exports stood at N9.63 billion, while total imports stood at N5.435 trillion.
Total exports rose by 4.31% when compared to Q1 2022 of N7.100 trillion and by 47.55% year-on-year of N5.02 trillion.
In the quarter under review, the top five re-export destinations were Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroun and Turkey.
On the other hand, total imports fell by 7.89% in Q2 2022, compared to N5.901 trillion recorded in Q1, but grew by 15.83% when compared to the N4.692 trillion recorded year-on-year in 2021.
The report also said Re-Exports in Q2 fell to N9.63 billion or 85.05% compared to N64.39 billion in the same quarter of 2021 and by 91.68% to N115.80 billion in Q1.
The report revealed that “In the quarter under review, the top five re-export destinations were Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroun and Turkey.”
It also listed the most re-exported commodity groups as “Light vessels, fire-floats, floating cranes, and other vessels not specified in 8905 (N2.99 billion) followed by ‘Mechanically propelled vessels for the transport of goods, gross tonnage above 500 tonnes’ valued at (N2.55 billion) and ‘Mech. propelled vessels for the transport of goods, gross tonnage not specified in 8901’ amounting to (N2.53 billion).”
The top five export destinations in Q2 2022 were India with a share of 14.85%, Spain 13.98%, the Netherlands 12.35%, the United States of America and Indonesia with 8.93% and 8.45%, respectively, all of which accounted for 58.55% of the total N7.41trillion exports.
