Nigeria recorded an improved trade balance in the first quarter of the year amid higher exports and lower imports, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The statistics bureau, in its Foreign Trade Goods Statistics Q1 2026, published on Monday, said Nigeria’s merchandise trade totalled N34.8 trillion in the period under review.
Total exports stood at N21.2 trillion, up 2.8 per cent from the N20.6 trillion reported in Q1 2025. Compared to the last quarter of last year, merchandise trade in the period under review rose by 11.6 per cent.
By contrast, the bureau said, total imports were estimated at N13.6 trillion, a 18.2 per cent decline from the level reached in QI 2025, which was N16.6 trillion.
Total imports in the review period decelerated by 21.1 per cent from the N17.3 trillion posted in Q4 2025.
The NBS indicated that the trade surplus stood at N7.5 trillion, driven by robust crude oil sales. Oil, Nigeria’s biggest export earnings, accounted for more than half (N11.2 trillion) of total exports, while other petroleum oil products contributed N6.8 trillion (32 per cent).
Non-oil exports, including agricultural and raw materials goods, were valued at N3.2 trillion.
The bureau said manufactured goods accounted for the largest share of imports, valued at N8.5 trillion (62.3 per cent) of the goods brought into the country during the period.
Crude oil imports contributed N1.9 trillion (14 per cent), while raw materials accounted for N1.6 trillion (11.6 per cent). Agricultural imports totalled N827.72 billion, solid minerals N69.8 billion, and other petroleum products N748.1 billion.
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The highest imported products were petroleum oils (N1.9 trillion), followed by gas oil (N364.4 billion), durum wheat (N340.1 billion), machinery for data transmission (N299.6 billion), and used vehicles (N284.1 billion).
On the export side, the NBS said crude oil at N11.2 trillion took the lion’s share, followed by natural gas (N2 trillion), urea (N1.4 trillion), other petroleum gases (N1.3 trillion), and kerosene-type jet fuel (N1.3 trillion).
China remained the largest source of imports, accounting for N5.1 trillion (37.4 per cent), followed by the United States (N2.8 trillion), India (N992.9 billion), Germany (N390.4 billion), and the UAE (N222.5 billion).
India was the top export destination, accounting for N2.8 trillion, or 13.1 per cent. It was followed by France (N2 trillion), the Netherlands (N2 trillion), Spain (N1.6 trillion) and the United States (N1.2 trillion).
