Nigeria’s total merchandise trade drops by 1.58 YoY at N36.2trn in Q1 2025, says NBS
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday disclosed that Nigeria’s total merchandise trade stood at N36.02 trillion in first quarter of (Q1)2025, about 1.58 per cent decline from N36.6 trillion in first quarter of 2024.
When compared to 2024, total merchandise trade increased by 6.19 per cent to the value of N33.9 trillion from N36.02 trillion in Q1 2025.
According to NBS latest report, Nigeria’s exports accounted for 57.18per cent of total trade with a value of N20.6 trillion, showing an increase of 7.42 per cent over the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024 (N19.18 trillion) and by 2.92per cent compared to the value recorded in Q4, 2024 (N20.14 trillion).
“Further analysis shows that Nigeria’s exports trade continued to be dominated by crude oil in the Q1 2025 valued at N12.96 trillion representing 62.89per cent of total exports while the value of non-crude oil exports stood at N7.6 trillion accounting for 37.11per cent of total exports; of which non-oil products contributed N3.17 trillion or 15.38per cent of total exports.
The report by NBS stated that Nigeria’s imports accounted for 42.82per cent of total trade in the Q1 2025 , with a value of N15.43 trillion representing a 4.59per cent increase compared to N14.75 trillion recorded in Q1 2024, and a 7.02per cent decrease from N16.59 trllion recorded in Q4 2024.
According to the report, the merchandise trade balance for Q1 2025 remained positive at N5.17 trillion, indicating an increase of 51.07per cent compared to the value recorded in the preceding quarter.”
In the Q1 2025, total imports were valued at N15,426.17 billion accounting for 42.82 per cent of total trade.
“Using the Standard International Trade Classification, the top-ranked group import was “mineral fuels” with N4,972.42 billion representing 32.23per centt of total imports, this was followed by “machinery and transport equipment” with N4,058.54 billion or 26.31per cent of total imports and “Chemicals & related products” with N2,231.14 billion (14.46per cent of total imports),” the rreport by NBS disclosed.
NBS noted that Nigeria imported goods mainly from Asia, valued at N8,772.84 billion representing 56.87per cent of total imports.
“This was followed by imports from Europe valued at N3,260.90 billion or 21.14per cent, America with N2,292.11 billion or 14.86per cent, while imports from Oceania stood at N98.61 billion or 0.64per cent in the first quarter of 2025.
“Imports to African countries stood at N1,001.71 billion or 6.49per cent of total imports; of which imports from ECOWAS countries amounted to N200.36 billion or 1.30per cent of total imports.
“Analysis by trading partners reveals that imports from China were valued at N4,657.93 billion, representing 30.19per cent of total imports. This was followed by imports from India with N1,716.33 billion representing11.13per cent of total imports.
“The United States with imports valued at N1,421.57 billion or 9.22per cent of total imports, The Netherlands with goods valued at N809.83 billion (5.25per cent of total imports) and goods from United Arab Emirates valued at N617.18 billion or four per cent of total imports,” the report added.
