Nigeria’s total trade balance experienced a significant rise, increasing by 43.8 per cent year-on-year to N19.32 trillion in the first nine months of the year from $13.43 billion recorded in 9M’24.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics report titled ‘Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics,’ showed conclusively that the overall value of exports exceeded that of imports during the stated period.
The NBS report specifically revealed that total exports stood at N66.16 trillion in 9M’25, marking an increase of 15.3 per cent from the N57.34 trillion recorded in the corresponding nine months of 2024.
Total imports grew by 6.45 per cent YoY to N46.84 trillion in 9M’25, up from N44 trillion in 9M’24.
This performance resulted in a total merchandise trade value of N122.99 trillion in 9M’25, representing a 21 per cent YoY increase from the N101.3 trillion recorded in 9M’24.
A trend analysis for the 9M’25 period showed that the trade balance grew by 44.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N7.46 trillion in the second quarter of 2025 from N5.17 trillion in Q1’25.
However, the latest NBS report indicated that the trade balance subsequently declined by 10.36 per cent QoQ to N6.69 trillion in Q3’25.
The report provided a detailed statement regarding the recent performance, saying: “The merchandise trade balance for Q3’25 remained positive at N6.69 trillion, indicating a decrease of 10.36 per cent compared to the value recorded in the preceding quarter.”
The NBS report continued with aggregated figures for the quarter, stating: “Nigeria’s total merchandise trade stood at N38.94 trillion in Q3, 2025. This represents an increase of 8.71 percent over the value of N35.82 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024 and an increase by 2.36 per cent compared to the value recorded in the preceding quarter (N38.037 trillion).”
Further segmenting the trade figures, the report noted: “In the quarter under review, exports accounted for 58.59 per cent of total trade with a value of N22.8 trillion, showing an increase of 11.08 percent over the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024 (N20.54 trillion) and by 0.28 percent compared to the value recorded in Q2, 2025 (N22.75 trillion).”
Regarding the composition of the nation’s outgoing trade, the report specified: ” Analysis shows that crude oil remained Nigeria’s major exported commodity in the third quarter of 2025 with a value of N12.81 trillion representing 56.14 per cent of total exports.”
The report also provided a detailed breakdown of non-crude oil exports: “A further breakdown reveals that the value of non-crude oil exports stood at N10.01 trillion accounting for 43.86 percent of total exports; of which non-oil products contributed N2.99 trillion or 13.14 percent of total exports.”
Concluding the imports section of the report, the Bureau noted: “On the other hand, imports accounted for 41.41 percent of total trade in the third.
