Nigeria’s total trade value plunged by 27.30% in the second quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter, and by 27.46% when set beside the figure for the corresponding period of 2019, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
“The value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade stood at N6.24 trillion in Q2, 2020. This indicates a sharp fall of 27.30% in Q2, 2020 compared to Q1, 2020 and 27.46% compared to Q2, 2019.
“The value of total trade year to date amounted to N14.83 trillion, indicating a drop of 11.96% compared to half year 2019,” the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics Q2 2020 report.
Total imports value contracted by 10.69% relative to the value recorded in Q1 2020, but inched up by 0.39% year on year (y-o-y).
Energy goods imports value ballooned by 591.47% compared to Q1 2020 level and 129.78% y-o-y.
Raw material imports value rose 85.69% quarter on quarter (q-o-q) and 64.69% y-o-y.
Total exports value declined by 45.64% relative to Q1 2020 and 51.73% relative to Q2 2019.
Raw material goods export value shrank by 56.2% compared to Q1 2020 and 52.4% y-o-y.
Crude oil exports value fell 47.2% q-o-q and 60.5% y-o-y.
Within the period, Spain emerged Nigeria’s top export trading partner, accounting for 14% of total export trade. Netherlands, China, India and South Africa followed at 10.98%, 9.93%, 8.81% and 7.76% respectively.
On the import side, China accounted for 31.41% of trade while the United States, India, Netherlands and Germany accounted for 10.66%, 8.01%, 5.04% and 3.91% in that order.
Major traded agricultural products comprised superior quality raw cocoa beans, sesamum seeds (whether or not broken), cashew nuts (shelled and in shell), good fermented Nigerian cocoa beans, other frozen shrimps and prawns, natural cocoa butter, ginger coconuts and shea nuts.
