Analysis of the latest statistics on Nigeria’s total imports for the second quarter 2021 have revealed that Nigeria total imports from China is in excess of N2 trillion with a GDP ratio of 7.9%.
Investigations by Shipping Position Daily on imports by Country of Origin, showed that majority of the goods imported within the second quarter originated from China with the value standing at N2.078Trillion.
The N2.078 Trillion import from China represents about 29.91% of the total country import volume of N6.95 trillion recorded in the second quarter.
The lead by China is followed by India with a comparatively low figure of N570.01 billion representing 8.20% of Nigeria’s total imports.
Third on the list of exporters to Nigeria is Netherlands which accounts for N557.16 billion representing 8.02% of Nigeria’s total import. She is flowed by United States with export value of N526.92 billion representing 7.58%.
Meanwhile, during Q2, 2021, Nigeria’s total export was valued at N5, 079.44 trillion representing 42.22% of the total merchandise trade.
Crude oil which is the major component of Nigeria’s export trade stood at N4,078.20 trillion or 80.29% of total export. This figure however shows a sharp increase of 111.32% in Crude oil value in Q2, 2021, when compared to (N1, 929.83billion) recorded in Q1, 2021.
Similarly, non-crude oil export value is N1001.23 trillion or 19.71% of total Q2 2021export.
Further details of Q2, 2021 export value revealed India as Nigeria’s major export destination with percentage value of 18.7% and GDP ratio of 20.1%. This is followed by Spain with percentage value of 10.3% and GDP ratio of 19.8%, Canada with percentage value of 7.0% and GDP ratio of 12.7%, Netherlands with percentage value of 5.9% with GDP ratio of 9.7%, United states with percentage value of 5.0% and GDP ratio of 12.2%.
By continents, Nigeria mainly exported to Asia followed by Europe, America, Africa and Oceania, in that order.
Commenting on the import and export statistics, the President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); Mansour Ahmed in a chat with our correspondent blamed the high cost of doing business in the country for the over dependence on imported goods, while also lamenting the constant escalation of foreign exchange as reason non-crude oil exports have continue to shrink.
He also noted congestion at the nation’s seaport and unavailability of electricity as major factors that have inhibited the country’s exports growth.
According to him, it takes two to three weeks or more to ship out an export container to a sea, stating that all of these things extremely affected the growth of exports in the country.
He told our correspondent that: “First of all, we need to know that a lot of exports being done are not recorded, I think the reason the figure is very low is that the export includes a lot of informal exports. Generally, export trade has not been commensurate with the size of the economy, even the capacity of the production and manufacturing sector.
“Our cost environment is extremely high with transportation cost; with constant delay and escalation of the foreign exchange rate also have had an impact on the high value of importing raw materials and spare parts.
“Our product, particularly our manufacturing products, are not as competitive as they should be, because of the aforementioned problem, also high cost of electricity, unavailability of electricity itself to help develop productivity is a major challenge.
“More so the challenges of facilitation and export infrastructure, the ports are congested, as you may be aware it takes sometimes 2 to 3 weeks or more to ship out a container up to sea, so all these things extremely cause export and makes it uncompetitive for manufacturers of goods.
“Besides that, I have stated earlier that a lot of these export is also done informally, so we don’t get full account of all the export. What this means is that there is lot of work we need to do; first we need to re identify the cost chapter of our economy particularly the manufacturing cost which is too high, we must do something to bring down cost, to address very high cost of electricity, unavailability of electricity and of course, the cost of clearing forwarding in maritime transportation”.
On his part, the founder Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, a private sector advocacy group, Dr. Muda Yussuf noted that the country’s over-reliance on import is a reflection of the fact that the country is still very weak in the area of export diversification. He also blamed the unfriendly business environment for reason Nigeria exports have remained insignificant, when compared with import.
He noted that by the time crude oil is taken out from the country’s exports, there is practically nothing left. But added that to facilitate export trade, there is need to remove all the bottlenecks either at the land border or at the nation’s seaports which he said is affecting exports trade facilitation in the country.
In his words: “The statistic is a reflection of the fact that we are still very weak in the area of export diversification, if over 85% of our export is crude oil; that means we are not trading at all, all other sectors are very weak and that is why they are weak because they are not competitive, and they are not competitive because the environment is not too good and conducive for them to be able to produce competitively.
Read Also: REVEALED: Foreign Ships Engaged By NNPC Enjoy Cabotage Waivers
“If we are producing here and the cost of exporting is too high, how are we going to export, if we’re producing here and the quality is not up to standard, how will you be able to export, if we are producing here and we have terrible problem of logistics especially at the port, how will you be able to export, the challenges are so enormous especially non-oil exports.
“The oils are so many that has made it not to make any impact, there is no way you can totally sustain a very stable external balance of trade, we won’t do something that are non-oil export sector particularly to make it competitive, at the point of quality, to facilitate export trade itself, remove all the bottlenecks either at the land border or at the ports.
“All those segments are still there, that is what is affecting the numbers, by the time we take oil out of our export, we have practically nothing left, so we are not really in the international and global arena as far as export is concerned. The little exports that we do, which is the non-oil is just exportation of plastic, rubber and some electronics materials, spare parts and some of these things are even in the re-exports, there are some things that came here that people are shipping into Ghana or Benin and all of that. So we have a lot of work to do to make our export sector much more robust, much more competitive especially non-oil sector and even the export of oil should not only be crude to non-producing country, he said.
Kindly like us on Facebook
Discussion about this post