Traders and buyers at the popular Igbonna market in Osogbo, Osun State, on Saturday. PHOTO: OlOWOLE IGE
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday that the total value of Nigeria’s external trade climbed 39.3 per cent to N32.26 trillion in 2018.
In its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics for the fourth quarter of the year, NBS noted that 2017 figures was N23.16 trillion adding that volume of total merchandise trade in 2018 was the highest recorded since 2014.
Total merchandise trade during the fourth quarter of 2018 stood at N8.60 trillion compared to N9.06 trillion recorded in the third quarter of the year.
According to NBS, a total export component of the trade recorded was N5.02 trillion, which represented an increase of 3.5 per cent over the third quarter of 2018 and 28.5 per cent over the fourth quarter 2017.
India, Spain, France, South Africa and the Netherlands were the country’s major export trading partners in the quarter under review while China, US, Netherlands, India and Belgium were the major import trading partners.
On the other hand, the import component of Nigeria’s external trade stood at N3.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of the year.
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It was a drop of N631.6 billion or 15.0 per cent compared to the third quarter, 2018 but an increase of 69.6 per cent when compared with the corresponding quarter in 2017.
However, it said the increase in export value and a decrease in import value (relative to third quarter 2018) resulted in a favourable trade balance of N1441 billion, or 125.5 per cent over the preceding quarter.
According to the report, crude oil export has been the mainstay of the economy; it accounted for the largest share of total exports (84.2 per cent) in the fourth quarter of 2018 at N4.228 billion.
Non-oil products accounted for 4.6 per cent of total exports while other oil products accounted for 11.2 per cent of total exports in the quarter under review.
The report said that the value of crude oil exports in the fourth quarter, 2018 was 1.98 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2018 and 29.95 per cent higher than in fourth quarter of 2017.
It said the value of other oil products exports increased by 3.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018 when compared with the third quarter of 2018 and 15.99 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.
Also, the value of manufactured goods exports rose by 14.97 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018 when compared with the value recorded in third quarter 2018 but decreased 36.6 per cent against the corresponding quarter in 2017.
It, however, said that the exports of energy goods increased in value by 6.1 per cent the in fourth quarter 2018 compared to third quarter 2018 and by 12.7 per cent when compared with fourth quarter 2017.
The bureau noted that total value of exports in the fourth quarter of 2018 increased by 3.52 per cent against the level recorded in the third quarter of 2018 and 28.46 per cent higher than its value in the fourth quarter of 2017.
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