…...Trade Deficit Widens To N1.8trn
The total value of Nigeria’s foreign trade stood at N6.24trn in the second quarter of 2020, representing a sharp fall of 27.30 per cent compared to N8.58trn recorded in the first quarter of this year.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics report, the import component was valued at N4.02trn representing a drop of 10.69 per cent in the second quarter, against N4.50trn recorded in the first quarter.
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The export component accounted for N2.21trn of the total trade, indicating a decline of 45.64 per cent against N4.08trn recorded in the first quarter of this year.
Consequently, the trade balance recorded a deficit of N1.8trn, marking the third consecutive quarter of negative trade balance.
Nigeria’s trade deficit was N421.3bn in the first quarter of this year and N579.06bn recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
According to the report which was released on Wednesday, the total trade in agricultural goods stood at N493.7bn, of which exported agricultural goods accounted for N78.1bn.
The report added, “Most Agricultural goods were exported to Asia, Europe and America valued at N43.6bn, N26.4bn and N6.6bn.
“The key driver of agricultural products exports were Superior quality raw cocoa beans, Sesamum seeds, Cashew nuts, good fermented cocoa beans and more”.
It said that the main consumers of superior quality cocoa were The Netherlands (N9.3bn), Indonesia(N3.7bn) and United States(N2.4bn).
Other agricultural exports were Sesamum seeds exported to Japan (N6bn) and to China, worth N2.3bn. Also, cashew nuts were exported to Vietnam, worth N12bn.
In terms of imports, Durum wheat worth N41bn was imported from United States, Russia
(N28.8bn) and Latvia (N24.5bn).
Similarly, the value of total trade in solid mineral goods stood at N30.5bn in the second quarter of this year, comprising import
component of N28.97bn and export component of N1.6bn.
The major products exported under this sector were Cement clinkers, exported to Senegal, valued at N44m, followed by Manganese Ores and concentrates exported to China, worth N42m and Lead ores and concentrate exported also to China, and worth N39m.
The value of manufactured goods traded in the second quarter of this year stood at N3trn. Out of this, the export component accounted for N254.2bn.
The products that drove up manufactured export were light vessels, Fire floats, floating Cranes exported to Spain in the value worth N129bn.
It said, “There were also exports of vessels and other Floating structures to Cameroun (N32.8bn), Equatorial guinea (N36.9bn) and Singapore(N7.5bn)”.
The report stated that value of total trade in raw material stood at N585.4bn with import component valued at N570.6bn while the export component stood at N14.8bn.
During the quarter, Urea worth N3.5bn was exported to Brazil and leather further prepared after tanning worth N1.2bn was exported to Spain.
In terms of imports, Cane sugar worth N43.3bn was imported from Brazil, while mixtures of Odoriferious substances worth N17.2bn was imported from Ireland and Food preparation worth N21.9bn was
imported from India.
During the quarter, Nigeria imported goods mainly from Asia, which was valued at N2.12trn while other imports originated from Europe, valued at N1.07trn, while imports from America and Africa amounted to N605.2bn and N174bn respectively.