Nigeria’s merchandise trade grew 49 percent in the second quarter of 2016 to N3.942 trillion, helped by a 63.3 percent rise in export value – which rose significantly on account of exchange gains – as well as 38.1 percent increase in imports.
According to the Merchandise Trade Report released in Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the nation’s trade deficit reduced with rising exports value.
The report puts the total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade in Q2, 2016 as N3.942 trillion, about 49.0 percent more than the value of N2.645 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter.
“This development arose from a rise of N725.6 billion or 63.3%, in the value of exports (largely due to exchange rate gains) combined with a rise of N570.8 billion or 38.1%, in the value of imports against the levels recorded in the preceding quarter. The current trade position brought the country’s negative trade balance to – N196.5 billion during the period under review. This shows a N154.8 billion reduction in the country’s trade deficit over the previous quarter,” the NBS said in the report.
Import trade stood at N2. 069.2 trillion at the end of Q2, 2016, showing an increase of 38.1 percent from N1.498 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter.
As for exports, increase in import value can be traced to a decline in the value of the naira, according to NBS.
The structure of Nigeria’s import trade by section was dominated by the imports of “boilers, machinery and appliances; parts thereof” which accounted for 34.9% of the total value of import trade in Q2, 2016.
“Other commodities which contributed noticeably to the value of import trade during the review period were “Mineral products” (15.8%), “Vehicles, aircraft and parts thereof; vessels etc.”(14.7%), “Products of the chemical and allied industries” (7.6%) and “Base metals and articles of base metals” (5.1%),” NBS stated.
The report further revealed that the import trade classified by broad economic category revealed that capital goods and parts ranked first with N663.6billion or 32.1 percent.
This was followed by ‘Industrial supplies’ with the value of N421.2billion or 20.4 percent, and ‘Transport Equipment and Parts’ with N356.1billion or 17.2 percent.
According to the report, the value of motor spirit stood at N296.1 billion. Nigeria’s import trade by destination showed that the country imported goods mostly from China, Netherlands, United States, India and the United Kingdom, which respectively accounted for N493.5 billion or 23.9 percent, N285.7 billion or 13.8 percent, N199.0 billion or 9.6 percent, N124.9 billion or 6 percent, and N119.3 billion or 5.8 percent of the total value of goods imported during the quarter.
Further analysis of Nigeria’s imports by continent revealed that the country consumed goods largely from Asia with import value of N886.1 billion or 42.8 percent.
The country also imported goods valued at N813.9 billion or 39.3 percent from Europe and N255.3 billion or 12.3 percent from America. Import trade from Africa stood at N89.1 billion or 4.3 percent while imports from the region of ECOWAS amounted to N20.8 billion.
According to the NBS. value of export trade totalled N1.872 trillion in Q2, 2016 showing an increase of N725.6 billion or 63.3 percent, over the value recorded in the preceding quarter.
The improvement in export value is largely due to the depreciation in the value of the naira. The structure of the export trade is still dominated by crude oil exports, which contributed N1,493.2 billion or 79.7 percent to the value of total domestic export trade in 2016 (estimate figure).
Exports by section revealed that Nigeria exported mainly mineral products, which accounted for N1.735 trillion or 92.7 percent of the total export value. Other products exported by Nigeria include “Animal and vegetable fats and oils and other cleavage products.
A review of the Export by continent, showed that Nigeria mainly exported goods to Europe and Asia, which accounted for N611.7 billion or 32.7 percent and N606.4 billion or 32.4 percent respectively of the total export value during the period under review.
The report also revealed that Nigeria exported goods valued at N265.9 billion or 14.2 percentto the continent of Africa while export to the ECOWAS region totalled N86.9 billion.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu & Amadi Nnamdi
