Data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has shown that China topped Nigeria's major import trade in second-quarter Q2, 2021 on the import trade list.
The data further showed that China recorded 29.9 percent or N2.08 trillion of the total import which stood at N6.95 trillion in the same quarter.
On the other hand, India leads on the list of Nigeria's major export trading partners with 18.7 percent or N949.05 billion of the total export which stood at N5.08 trillion in the same quarter under review. A breakdown from NBS explained that the first five countries among the major export trading partners included India which recorded 18.7 percent; Spain 10.3percent; Canada 7.0 percent; Netherlands 5.9percent and United States 5.1percent.
The data stated: "The import intensity of Nigeria with the top importing partners (China, India, Netherlands, and Russia) were higher in all the months. China recorded (1.75, 1.12, and 1.23) in April, May, and June. A higher index was also recorded for India (5.17, 3.34, and 2.76 for April, May, and June 2021) and Netherlands (1.60 and 1.36) in May and June but 0.86 in April. Other major trading partners were Russia which recorded (1.68, 1.22, and 1.20 for April, May, and June) while the United States recorded lower import intensities of 0.51, 0.46, and 0.52 during the months of Q2, 2021.
"During the months of the second quarter of 2021 (April, May, and June), Nigeria had intense export trade with India (6.52, 6.25, 6.89), Spain (4.55, 3.74, 4.30), and Canada (2.35, 2.56, 1.94). This is shown by the higher index recorded during the quarter. However, the available record showed lower export intensities for United States (0.26, 0.54, and 0.06). During the quarter, Netherlands registered higher export intensities for April (2.0) and June (1.79) but a lower export intensity for May (0.18)
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However, NBS said that the total value of trade in agricultural goods in Q2 2021 stood at N817.35billion, while the export component of this trade totaled N165.27billion and the import valued at N652.08 billion.
Reacting to the above, the Chief Executive Officer of Multimix Academy, an export-oriented academy, Obiora Madu, decried the fact that most of the items exported are agro-based with no added value.
Madu explained that the increase in the volume of export may not be unconnected to the fact that businesses were at the lowest as a result of Covid, stressing that comparison of the increase for this year should be with 2019.
He said: "Yes last year it went down, so if I want to compare, I should be looking at 2019 to do the comparison because last year, there was nothing happening more or less so it is not strange if the figure of this year is higher than last year. Most of the export products are agro-based and raw, no value addition which is not the best," he noted.
