MON, 06 JUNE, 2022-theGBJournal| Latest data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows a substantial increase in Nigeria’s export in agricultural goods since first quarter of 2021 when the coronavirus pandemic impacted productivity.
According to the report, exports in agricultural goods increased by 51.89% and 58.35% when compared to the value recorded in Q4, 2021 (N132.71 billion) and Q1, 2021 (N127.31billion) respectively.
Meanwhile, the value of total trade in agricultural goods in Q1, 2022 stood at N644.94billion of which exports were valued at N201.59 billion in Q1, 2022.
During the quarter, most agricultural products were exported to Asia, valued at N101.99billion, followed by Europe with N27.49billion.
Export of agricultural products was dominated by Superior quality Cocoa beans valued at N72.59billion followed by ‘Sesamum seeds, whether or not broken’ with N56.45billion and Standard quality Cocoa Beans with N13.21billion.
By direction of trade, ‘Superior quality raw cocoa beans’ worth N27.16billion and N16.11billion was exported to The Netherlands and Belgium respectively. Furthermore, sesamum seeds worth N24.34billion and N11.11billion were exported to China and Japan respectively, followed by exports of Standard quality Cocoa Beans worth N6.70 and N2.74billion were exported to Germany and Malaysia respectively.
On the other hand, total imports of agricultural goods imported in Q1, 2022 stood at N443.36 billion or 7.51% of total imports in Q1, 2022. This shows a decrease of 33.55% when compared to the value recorded in Q4, 2021 (N667.16billion) and rose by 8.39% compared to the value recorded in Q1,B2021(N409.03billion).
The major agriculture goods imported in Q1, 2022 included Durum wheat (not in seeds) were from the United States with N71.56billion and Argentina with N59.04billion. This was followed by Crude palm oil from Malaysia valued at N13.50billion and from China with N0.02 billion and ‘Herrings (Clupeaharengus, Clupeapallasii)’ worth N6.23billion was imported from Russia.
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