GIFT ROBERTS
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has said that the value of total trade in raw material stood at N762.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, in its latest Foreign Trade Statistics report.
According to the NBS data, imports of raw materials into Nigeria rose to N2.32 trillion last year from N1.34 trillion in 2019, within the COVID-19 pandemic. It said the import component was valued at N715.7 billion while the export component stood at N46.9 billion.
“The value of raw material imports grew marginally by 0.75 per cent in Q4 2020 compared to Q3 2020 but was 113.12 per cent higher compared to Q4 2019. For 2020, the value of raw material imports was 72.5 per cent higher than the value recorded in 2019,” the statistics office said.
The report showed that the value of raw material goods exports in the 4th quarter were 317.6 per cent higher than the value in the 3rd quarter and 122 per cent higher than the value recorded in the 4th quarter of 2019.
“In 2020, the value of raw material goods exports was only 0.7 per cent higher than the value recorded in 2019,” it said.
According to the report, the NBS disclose that Urea was exported to Brazil at a value of N11.2 billion during the fourth quarter, while leather was exported to Spain, India and Italy been valued at N2.4 billion, N2.1 billion and N1.9 billion respectively, with Ammonium sulphate valued at N3.3 billion was also exported to Brazil.
“In terms of imports, cane sugar worth N102.5bn was imported from Brazil, followed by preparations for infant use imported from China and the United Kingdom valued at N16.7bn and N12.8bn respectively.
“Other products imported under this category were mixtures of odoriferous substance, imported from Swaziland and Ireland and valued at N15.9bn and N13.1bn respectively. In addition, milk preparation valued at N10.3bn was imported from Ireland while other glutamic acid and its salts worth N10.4bn were imported from China.”