Trade Explosion! Nigeria Records N36.024 Trillion In Total Trade, Export Growth Sh*cks Market — NBS

Nigeria’s total foreign merchandise trade reached ₦36.02 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, marking a 6.19% increase compared to ₦33.93 trillion recorded in Q1 2024, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday in Abuja. However, the figure showed a slight decline of 1.58% from ₦36.60 trillion recorded in the previous quarter (Q4 2024).

The NBS report revealed that exports contributed 57.18% of the total trade, amounting to ₦20.60 trillion. This represents a 7.42% rise from ₦19.18 trillion in Q1 2024 and a 2.92% increase compared to ₦20.01 trillion in Q4 2024.

Crude oil exports continued to dominate, contributing ₦12.96 trillion (62.89% of total exports), while non-crude oil exports totaled ₦7.64 trillion (37.11%). Non-oil products alone accounted for ₦3.17 trillion, or 15.38% of total exports.

Top export destinations in Q1 2025 included India, the Netherlands, the United States, France, and Spain. Leading export commodities were crude oil, liquefied natural gas, other petroleum gases, urea (in aqueous or non-aqueous form), and premium cocoa beans.

Exports of agricultural products hit ₦1.70 trillion, showing a substantial 64.65% growth from ₦1.04 trillion in Q1 2024, and a 10.63% rise over Q4 2024. Raw material exports surged by 196.12% year-on-year to ₦1.04 trillion and by 55.65% quarter-on-quarter. Solid mineral exports, however, declined to ₦58.87 billion — a 7.17% fall from Q1 2024 and 3.03% lower than Q4 2024.

Manufactured goods exports totaled ₦294.43 billion in Q1 2025, up 9.58% year-on-year but down sharply by 40.43% from Q4 2024. Crude oil exports declined by 16.35% compared to Q1 2024 and by 6.01% from Q4 2024.

On the import side, Nigeria imported goods worth ₦15.43 trillion in Q1 2025, reflecting a 4.59% increase from ₦14.75 trillion in Q1 2024, but a 7.02% drop compared to ₦16.59 trillion in the previous quarter.

China remained Nigeria’s top source of imports, followed by India, the U.S., the Netherlands, and the UAE. Major imported goods included gas oil, motor spirit (PMS), crude petroleum oils, refined cane sugar for processing, and durum wheat.

Agricultural imports rose by 12.52% to ₦1.04 trillion from ₦920.54 billion in Q1 2024, but fell by 5.02% compared to Q4 2024. Raw material imports stood at ₦1.81 trillion, a 23.42% year-on-year rise but a 14.14% quarter-on-quarter drop.

Solid mineral imports were valued at ₦91.78 billion, up 29.44% from Q1 2024 but down 17.90% from the previous quarter. Manufactured goods imports totaled ₦7.51 trillion, a significant 30.90% jump from Q1 2024, though they declined by 11.35% from Q4 2024.

Imports of other oil products dropped sharply to ₦3.79 trillion, representing a 42.20% decrease year-on-year and a 21.19% fall from the preceding quarter.