Nigeria has the largest market in Africa with a population of approximately 200 million people. In 2017, the Economic Complexity Index ranked Nigeria as the 49th largest export economy in the world and the 124th most complex economy. The country’s foreign trade statistics, which is the export and import value, shows how it has competed in the global market place.
Nigeria exported $52.9 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2018. This value represented a decline of 46.7 per cent since 2014 but an increase of 29.9 per cent from $46.8 billion in 2017. However, exported products in 2017 increased by 27 per cent when compared with preceding year 2016. The increase in trade value had a positive trade balance of $12.7 billion in net exports, as compared to a trade deficit of about $538 million in 2016.
Trade as of 2017 accounted for 26.3 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP which amounted a 6 per cent increase compared with 2016. Put differently, the country recorded a trade growth of 11.56 per cent compared to a world growth of 1.50 per cent, thus, GDP for the considered period stood at $375.7 billion. Nigeria exports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP was 13.17 per cent and imports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP is 13.18 per cent in 2017.
This improvement could be attributed to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), launched in early 2017, which led to policies amendment and new policies were enacted to help exit Nigeria from the recession that hit the country in 2016. These policies included the Investor and Exporter Foreign Exchange Window (IEFX) and a tightening of the monetary policy, decrease in inflationary rate.
And again, the combination of higher oil revenues and positive policy decisions also contributed to the rejuvenation of the economy. This led to an increase in capital inflow (the sum total of the foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio and other investment equal $12 billion in 2017, more than doubled of the previous year value.
The National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) recent report on foreign trade in goods statistics shows that the value of total exports increased by 1.34 per cent in Q2 2019 against the level recorded in Q1, 2019 and 2.06 per cent when compared with its value in Q2, 2018.
The value of exports for the first half of 2019 fell by 1 per cent compared to the first half of 2018, the decline recorded in the first half of 2019 is as a result.
The value of agricultural exports was 14.66 per cent lower than in Q1 2019 and 14.48 per cent lower than in Q2 2018; the value of raw material exports was 14.52 per cent lower than the value in Q1 2019 and 1.71 per cent lower than in Q2 2018; the value of solid minerals exports declined by 15.53 per cent compared to Q1 2019 and 62.27 per cent against the corresponding quarter in 2018; the exports of energy goods dropped by 12.31 per cent in value compared to Q1 2019 and 15.15 per cent when compared with Q2 2018.
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And again, the value of manufactured exports decreased by 77.05 per cent when compared with the value recorded in Q1 2019 but increased by 51.75 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2018; the value of crude oil exports in Q2 2019 was 16.52 per cent higher than in Q1 2019 and 4.40 per cent higher than in Q2 2018 and the value of Other
Nigeria top export partners
Data from the report indicated the Nigerian major export trading partners for Q2 2019. As at the reviewed period, 53.42 per cent of products exported from Nigeria was bought by five major countries: India (17.27 per cent), Spain (11.97 per cent), Netherlands (10.41 per cent), United State (7.68 per cent), and France (6.4 per cent).
From a continental perspective, the percentage total of export to European countries accounted for approximately 46 per cent or N4,385.3 billion, which is almost one-half of the total exporting value, while N1,270.8 billion worth of goods were exported to 28 per cent. The Asian continent represented approximately 28 per cent , while (14 per cent or N638.5 billion, Africa (11 per cent or N508.95 billion) was exported to America and Africa continents respectively. The Oceania accounts for 1 per cent of the total export value.
Components of Nigerian export basket
Crude oil continues to dominate Nigeria’s export basket. It accounted for more than half of the total export value N4.6 trillion with a share total of 86 per cent. Consequently, revenue from crude oil sale ccounts for 90 per cent of federal government income
During the review period, the total trade in agricultural goods stood at N323.4 billion out of which exported agricultural goods accounted for N73.5billion, which translated to 22.7 per cent. However, this value was 14.66 per cent lower than Q1 2019 and 14.48 per cent lower than Q2 2018.
The value of trade in solid mineral goods stood at N36.7billion in Q2, 2019. By implication, 21 per cent of the value was exported which represented N7.6billion while the value of manufactured goods traded in Q2, 2019 stood at N2,577.9 billion. The export components stood at N106.1 billion. This indicated that 4 per cent of the manufactured products were exported majorly to Cameroon, Argentina, and Namibia at N27billion, N12.6billion and N3.3billion respectively.
Also, the value of total trade in raw materials stood at N377.6billion. The export components stood at N31.1billion. The value of raw material exports in Q2 2019 was 14.52 per cent lower than the value in Q1,2019 and 1.71 per cent lower than in Q2 2018.
