Article summary
- Nigeria’s foreign trade in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 17.5% to N12.05 trillion compared to the same period in 2022.
- Petrol imports accounted for 26.8% of the total imports, amounting to N1.49 trillion.
- Nigeria’s agricultural goods exports were valued at N279.639 billion, with superior-quality cocoa beans and sesamum seeds being the top exports. Asia was the largest importer of Nigeria’s agricultural goods.
The Nigerian Government recently revealed that Nigeria recorded a total foreign trade of N12.05 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 17.5% decrease compared to N14.6 trillion recorded in Q1 2022.
Nigeria imported petrol worth N1.49 trillion in the review quarter, accounting for 26.8% of the total import during the period according to the recently released foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
A breakdown of the report showed that imports stood at N5.56 trillion in Q1 2023, from N5.36 trillion and N7.49 trillion in Q4 and Q1 2022 respectively.
On the other hand, Nigeria’s export increased slightly by 2% to N6.49 trillion in the review quarter from N6.36 trillion recorded in Q4 2022 and an 8.7% decline from N7.1 trillion in Q1 2022.
Agriculture
According to the report, Nigeria exported N279.639 billion worth of agricultural goods exports, which made up 4.31% of total exports. On The import side, Nigeria imported N471.391 zillion worth of agricultural goods, making up 8.48% of total imports.
The top ten agriculture exports for Q1 2023
- Superior Quality Cocoa Beans: N84.752 billion.
- Sesamum seeds: N67.660 billion.
- Cashew Nuts in Shell: N27.180 billion.
- Soya Beans( excluding seeds): N24.101 billion.
- Standard Quality Cocoa Beans: N17.956 billion.
- Cut flowers & flower buds for ornamental purposes: N13.007 billion.
- Cashew Nuts shelled: N6.841 billion.
- Frozen shrimps and prawns: N5.126 billion.
- Natural cocoa butter: N4.882 billion
- Ginger, crushed or ground: N4.635 billion.
Previous results
On export locations, Asia was the largest importer of Nigeria’s agricultural goods, importing N172.9 billion worth of goods, followed by Europe at N85 billion, Africa imported only N7.6 billion worth of Nigeria’s agricultural goods.
Nigeria’s recent trade data translates to a trade balance of N927.2 billion in Q1 2023 from N996.8 billion recorded in the previous quarter and a negative balance of N393.6 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.
Nigeria recorded its second consecutive positive trade balance, after enduring multiple foreign trade deficits in the recent past, an improvement attributed to improved crude oil production.
According to the NBS, the country recorded an average daily oil production of 1.51 million barrels per day (mbd) in Q1 2023, higher than the daily average production of 1.49mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022.
What you should know
Cocoa has maintained its lead as Nigeria’s top agriculture export for consecutive quarters, as Nairametrics reported the export of agricultural products was dominated by superior quality cocoa beans valued at N74.65 billion, followed by sesamum seeds valued at N38.56 billion and standard quality cocoa beans valued at N14.16 billion in Q4 2022.
