In the first quarter of 2023, Nigeria recorded N6.49 trillion in export trade, which is an 8.7% decline year-on-year when compared to N7.1 trillion in Q1 2022.
Although, the value of export trade inched higher quarter-on-quarter, as the N6.49 trillion recorded in Q1 2023 is above the N6.36 trillion recorded in Q4 2022.
During the quarter in review, the Netherlands, the United States of America, Spain, France and India were Nigeria’s top five export destinations.
The Netherlands accounted for N837.65 billion, the United States contributed N579.35 billion, and Spain received exports worth N488.17 billion.
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France was next with N487.34 billion, and India completed the list with N456.69 billion, according to the foreign trade report obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.
The top leading export products are Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, Liquefied Natural Gas and Urea.
Meanwhile, the total value of foreign trade, which is import and export combined, was N12.05 trillion. This falls short of the N14.6 trillion recorded in Q1 2022, indicating a 17.5% year-on-year decrease.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, foreign trade value rose by 2.8%, against the N11.72 trillion recorded in Q4 2022.
Import trade accounted for N5.56 trillion of the total foreign trade value, surpassing the N5.36 trillion reported in Q4 last year, but below the N7.49 trillion recorded in Q1 2022.