Group Chief Communications Officer, Dangote Cement Plc, Anthony Chijiena (left); Group Chief Legal Counsel, Mahmud Kazaure; Non-Executive Director, Emmanuel Ikazaboh; Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar N. Onyema; Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement Joseph Makoju; Non-Executive Director, Ernest Ebi; Executive Director, Finance, Brian Egan; Deputy Company Secretary, Ityoyila Ukpi; and Ag. Head, Listing Business Division, NSE, Tony Ibeziako, throughout a closing gong ceremony by Dangote Cement on the Exchange, yesterday.
Intra-African trade stays low at three.7 per cent
The complete worth of Nigeria’s trade in items amounted to N7.21 trillion on the finish of the primary Quarter of 2018, representing a progress of N1.18 trillion or 19.74 per cent from the N6.02 trillion recorded in the final quarter of 2017, following a rise in crude oil manufacturing and non-oil exports.
As acknowledged by the most recent information on Foreign Trade in Goods Report, which was launched yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the rise in trade was pushed by the stronger progress in exports in comparison with imports.
With the entire worth of exports closing at N4.69 trillion in the interval below evaluation, the exports worth was dominated by crude oil, though the proportion of non-crude oil export elevated from 17 per cent in the final quarter to roughly 24 per cent Q1.
The worth of crude oil export stood at N3.58 trillion in the primary quarter of 2018, which accounted for 76.three per cent of the entire exports from Nigeria.China remained the highest importing associate for Nigeria in the primary quarter, whereas import trade from African international locations was valued at N94.1 billion (three.7 per cent of the entire import) and imports from the area of ECOWAS amounted to N17.eight billion.
The complete trade worth in Q1, 2018, additionally exhibits a 35.07 per cent progress in comparison with the quantity of N5.34 trillion recorded in similar quarter final 12 months.Similarly, the trade steadiness in Q1, 2018 was N2.17 trillion, which elevated by 20.95 per cent from the final quarter in 2017, and 221.08 per cent over the identical quarter in 2017. In phrases of import, the entire import part in the primary quarter (N2.51trillion) additionally recorded a progress of 19.22 per cent on a quarter on quarter foundation, and eight.04 per cent 12 months on 12 months.
The complete worth of imports into Nigeria in the primary quarter was dominated by mineral gas at N845 billion or 33.6 per cent of the entire import, whereas N669.1 billion was expended on equipment and transport gear.In the primary quarter of 2018, the worth of mineral gas merchandise imports elevated by 122.2 per cent in comparison with the final quarter of 2017.Europe and Asia continued to dominate as import vacation spot into Nigeria in the reviewing quarter, each recorded import values of N1,154.70 billion and N989.19 billion respectively.
The worth of imports from these two continents grew by 35.71 per cent and 17.06 per cent respectively in comparison with the final quarter in 2017, they usually collectively represented greater than 85 per cent of the entire imports in the primary quarter of 2018. The worth of imported items from America (N254.32 billion), nonetheless, decreased by 16.12 per cent from the earlier quarter (N303.18 billion).
In the primary quarter, the highest 5 import vacation spot for Nigeria was China, Netherlands, Belgium, USA and India. The Import worth from the 5 international locations was N530.98 billion or 21.1 per cent (of the entire import), N305.80 billion or 12.1 per cent, N266.69 billion or 10.6 per cent, N163.94 billion or 6.5 per cent and N157.92 billion or 6.3 per cent respectively.
The complete trade of agricultural items in Q1, 2018 stood at N257.7 billion, in which exports and imports recorded N73.25 billion and N184.49 billion respectively.Exports of agricultural merchandise in the primary quarter grew by 63.84 per cent in comparison with 44.71 billion recorded in the final quarter of 2017, whereas imports in the reviewing quarter decreased by 18.90 per cent in comparison with N227.50 billion recorded in the earlier quarter. Agricultural merchandise in the quarter below evaluation, had been primarily exported to Asia (N37.eight billion) and Europe (N32.7 billion).