NIGERIA’S external trade in the fourth quarter 2016, was valued at N5, 286.6 billion with export component standing at N2, 978.9 billion while its import was N2, 307.6 billion, leading to a trade surplus of N671.3 billion.
According to the Merchandise Trade Intensity Index/ Re-Export Report Quarter 4, 2016 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday, trade by sector showed that crude oil exports had the largest share of the total trade, accounting for N2, 425.4 billion or 45.9 per cent.
The second major contributor to total trade by sector was manufactured goods with N1, 167.1 billion or 22.1 per cent of total trade.
This was followed by other (non-crude) oil products with N1, 153.9 billion or 21.8 per cent, while agricultural goods, which accounted for N212.7 billion or 4 per cent, raw material goods, which accounted for N309.3 billion or 5.9 per cent, and solid mineral goods, which stood at N13.1 billion or 0.3 per cent of total trade during the period under review.
The value of the total trade at end of 2016 amounted to N17,345 billion which is 6.5 per cent higher than the value recorded for 2015
NBS explained that export intensity index compares the share of exports to each country in Nigeria’s total exports, with the share of world exports going to that country, and therefore gives a measure of the importance of that country to Nigeria as an export destination.
A higher number denotes a stronger relationship, and an index of one indicates that exports to that country are what would be expected given global trade patterns.
Export intensity in October, November and December 2016 was highest for South Africa with export intensities of 8.9, 7.3 and 4.1 respectively.
Export intensity in Q4 2016 was also intense with India with export intensities of 5.8, 5.8 and 1.7 for the last three months of 2016.
Spain and Netherlands also had high export intensities with export intensities of 4.8, 2.9 and 2.0 for Spain and 2.2, 1.5 and 2.2 for the Netherlands.
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