SAT, MARCH 07 2020-theG&BJournal- Nigeria’s Merchandise trade continued its growth path in Q4 2019, according to latest data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Compared with third quarter 2019, the value of Nigeria’s total trade stood at N10,120.20 billion in Q4,2019 representing a 10.15% increase over the value recorded in Q3, 2019 and 25.9% increase relative to Q4, 2018. The value of the export component (N4,770.57 billion) fell by 9.79% against Q3, 2019 but rose by 7.06% when compared with the corresponding quarter in 2018. On the other hand, the import component (valued at N5,349.63 billion) increased by 37.20% in Q4 against Q3,2019 and 49.34% against Q4,2018. The faster increase in imports resulted in a negative trade balance of N579.06billion during the quarter under review, the first since mid- 2016.
On an annual basis, the value of total trade in 2019 was recorded at N36,152.1 billion, representing a 14.05% increase over 2018. However, this was lower than 36.86% recorded in 2018 over 2017. The level of imports stood at N16,959.9 billion while exports were valued at N19,192.2 billion, resulting in a trade balance of N2,232.4billion. While imports rose by 28.8% in 2019 over 2018, exports rose by only 3.6%, and the trade balance was 58.4% less than in 2018.
In Q4, 2019, Crude oil remained the dominant export valued at N3,629.24 billion and accounting for 76.1% of total exports, while non crude oil exports amounted to N1,141.3billion or 23.9%. However the value of crude oil exports in Q4,2019 was 3.16% lower than in Q3,2019 and 0.88% lower than the corresponding quarter of 2018. On an annual basis, the value of crude oil exports at N14,690.02billion, was lower than in 2018 by 3.08%.
Total imports stood at N5,349.63 billion in Q4, 2019 representing an increase of 37.2% over the value recorded in Q3,2019 and 49.34% over the corresponding quarter of 2018. This was due to increases in the values of imported machinery and transport equipment (which increased by N866.5billion or 47.03%) and Mineral fuels (N320.3billion or 60.68%) in Q4,2019 over their values in Q3,2019.
During the quarter, Nigeria imported goods mainly from Asia, valued at N3,008.69 billion or 56.24% of total imports. Other major imports originated from Europe, valued at N1,550.36billion or 28.98% while imports from America and Africa amounted to N668.57billion or 12.50% and N113.99 billion or 2.13% respectively. Import from Oceania stood at N8.01billion or 0.15% of total imports while goods valued at N22.8billion originated from ECOWAS.
By country of origin, goods were imported mainly from India, valued at N1,207.24 billion or 22.57%, China (N1,096.14 or 20.49%), the United States (N484.34billion or 9.05%), the Netherlands (N460.58billion or 8.61%) and Belgium (N308.30billion or 5.76%).
The value of total exports in Q4, 2019 stood at N4770.57 billion. This indicates a decrease of 9.79% against the level recorded in Q3,2019 but an increase of 7.06% when compared with its value in Q4, 2018.
The Crude oil component of export amounted to N3,629.24 billion or 76.08% of total exports during the period under review while Non-crude oil export accounted for N1,141.33 billion, or 23.92%. For 2019, the share of crude oil exports in total exports stood at 76.5%, maintaining its downward trend from 2016 as the share of non-oil exports continued to increase.
Exports by section revealed that mineral products accounted for the largest proportion of exports, amounting to (N4,171.95 billion or 87.45%). This was followed by Vehicles aircraft and parts (N477.06billion or 10%) and others.
During the quarter, analysis of trade by region revealed that Nigeria exported mostly to Europe (N1,968.50 billion or 41.2%), followed by Asia (N1417.31billion or 29.71%), Africa (N949.45billion or 19.9%), America (N359.49billion or 7.54%) and Oceania (N75.83billion or 1.5%). Within Africa, goods worth N582.3 billion was exported to ECOWAS member states. Similarly, on an annual basis, most exports went to Europe (39.69%), Asia (28.25%), Africa (20.44%), the Americas (10.67%) and Oceania (0.53%).
By country of destination, Nigeria exported goods to India (valued at N628.4billion or 13.17%), Spain (N493.88billion or 10.35%), France (N371.37billion or 7.78%), the Netherlands (N356.3 billion or 7.47%) and Ghana (N352.88billion or 7.4%).
|twitter:@theGBJournal|email: info@govandbusinessjournal.com.ng|
