The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s total merchandise trade stands at N12,841.54 billion in the second quarter of 2022.

This is according to the NBS Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics Report for Q2 2022 released in Abuja on Thursday.

The report said the figure was lower than the value recorded in the first quarter of 2022, which stood at N13,001.28 billion, indicating a marginal decrease of 1.23 per cent.

”However, it was higher than the value recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, which stood at N9,712.02 billion,” the report noted.

It said Nigeria’s merchandise trade slightly fell in Q2 2022 due to a decline in import trade resulting in an improved trade balance. The NBS said the total export trade was N7,406.53 billion in Q2 2022, showing a rise of 4.31 per cent compared to Q1 2022, which stood at N7,100.46 billion.

“The total exports trade for Q2 2022 also increased by 47.55 per cent of the value recorded in the second quarter of 2021 at N5,019.68 billion,” the bureau said.

On the other hand, total imports stood at N5,435.01 billion in Q2 2022, indicating a decrease of 7.89 per cent over the value recorded in Q1 2022, at N5,900.83 billion.

However, the value increased by 15.83 per cent compared to the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021 at N4,692.33 billion, NBS disclosed, noting that re-exports stood at N9.63 billion in Q2 2022 while the “value decreased when compared to the same quarter of 2021 at N64.39 billion and also Q1 2022 at N115.80 billion by 85.05 per cent and 91.68 per cent, respectively.”

The report further stated that the value of exports trade in Q2 2022 was dominated by crude oil exports valued at N5,907.97 billion, which accounted for 79.77 per cent of total exports.

Non-crude oil export value stood at N1,498.56 billion or 20.23 per cent of total exports, of which non-oil products contributed N675.08 billion, representing 9.11 per cent of total exports.

The report said in the quarter under review, the top five re-export destinations included Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon and Turkey. 

(NAN)