Nigeria in the first three months of 2017 spent N62.5 billion on the importation of durum wheat and maize even as the agricultural revolution of the country saw an increase of 82 per cent in the exports of agricultural products.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, N53.1 billion was spent on the importation of durum wheat and another N9.4 billion on the importation of maize.
The major importation of wheat came from the United States of America from where Nigeria imported N26.8 billion worth.
N14.4 billion was spent importing wheat from Russia and N11.9 billion from Australia.
Nigeria also imported Maize worth N8.3 billion from United States, and maize worth N1.1 billion from Cyprus.
However the agricultural revolution and investments in the sector is beginning to have effect as Agricultural export increased by 82 per cent over the level attained in the last quarter of 2016.
The export earnings from Agricultural goods stood at N30 billion.
Agricultural products exports were driven by Sesamum seeds of which N3.7 billion worth was exported to Turkey.
Also, Sesamum seeds worth N1.6 billion were exported to China while another N1.6 billion worth of sesamum seeds were exported to India.
Sesamun seeds were followed by the exports of soya beans.
Soya beans export to Russia accounted for N3.4 billion, while Greece accounted for N1.2billion.
Other Agric product like frozen shrimp worth N2.2billions were exported to Netherlands.
Cashew nuts valued at N1.8billion were exported mainly to Vietnam while Crude palm kernel oil worth N1.2 billion went mainly to Netherlands.
The value of the export trade, stood at N3.005 trillion in Q1, 2017 representing an increase of N26.95 billion or 0.9 per cent, over the value recorded in the preceding quarter.
The structure of export trade is still dominated by crude oil exports, which contributed N2.376 trillion or 79.1 per cent to the value of total domestic export trade in 2017.
Exports by section revealed that Nigeria exported mainly mineral products, which accounted for N2.86 trillion or 95.2 per cent of the total export value.
Other products exported by Nigeria include “Prepared foodstuffs; beverages spirits and vinegar; tobacco” at N46.5 billion or 1.5 per cent, and “Vehicles, aircraft and parts thereof; vessels etc.” at N25.1 billion or 0.8 per cent.
Nigeria’s import trade stood at N2.286 trillion at the end of Q1, 2017, showing a decrease of 0.9 per cent from the value of N2.307 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter.
The structure of Nigeria’s import trade by section was dominated by the imports of “Mineral products” which accounted for 33.6 per cent of the total value of import trade in Q1, 2017/
Other commodities which contributed noticeably to the value of import trade during the review period were “Boilers, machinery and appliances; parts thereof” (19.8 per cent), “Products of the chemical and allied industries” (9.1 per cent), “Base metals and articles of base metals” (6.1 per cent) and “Vehicles, aircraft and parts thereof; vessels etc.” (5.3 per cent).
The import trade classified by broad economic category, revealed that “Fuels and lubricants”, ranked first with N743.1 billion or 32.5 per cent.
This was followed by “Industrial Supplies” with the value of N554.1 billion or 24.2 per cent, and “Capital Goods and parts” with N430.1 billion or 18.8 per cent. The value of motor spirit stood at N507.9 billion.
