Nigeria's foreign trade reached N34.78 trillion in the first quarter of 2026. The National Bureau of Statistics released the figures on Monday.
Exports dominated the trade picture at N21.16 trillion, making up 60.85% of total commerce. This marked a 2.77% rise compared to Q1 2025's N20.59 trillion.
Quarter-on-quarter, exports climbed even higher by 11.63% from Q4 2025's N18.96 trillion. Imports, by contrast, told a different story.
Nigeria imported N13.61 trillion worth of goods in the opening quarter. That's 39.15% of total trade activity.
Compared to the same period last year, imports dropped sharply by 18.17% from N16.64 trillion. Against the previous quarter, the decline reached 21.05% from N17.25 trillion.
Crude oil remained king among exports at N11.2 trillion. It accounted for 52.92% of all goods shipped out.
Non-crude oil exports still held significant weight at N9.96 trillion. Non-oil products contributed N3.18 trillion, representing 15.05% of total exports.
China led as Nigeria's biggest import source during the quarter. The United States, India, Germany, and the UAE followed in order.
Petroleum products dominated the import bill across multiple categories. Crude oil, gas oil, and durum wheat featured prominently among purchases.
Agricultural imports fell to N827.72 billion in Q1 2026. That's down 20.09% from N1.03 trillion in the year-ago quarter.
Raw materials imports stood at N1.58 trillion for the period. This represented a 12.63% decrease from N1.81 trillion in Q1 2025.
Compared to Q4 2025's N2.35 trillion, raw material imports fell 32.72%. The contraction signals reduced economic activity and lower demand.
India, France, and the Netherlands were Nigeria's top three export destinations. Spain and the United States rounded out the leading five markets.
Natural gas and urea ranked among Nigeria's key non-oil exports. Kerosine-type jet fuel also featured significantly in the export mix.
Agricultural exports totaled N1.17 trillion during the first quarter. Year-on-year, this represented a 31.20% decline from N1.70 trillion.
Sequentially, agricultural shipments fell 11.39% from Q4 2025's N1.32 trillion. The data suggests mounting challenges in the agricultural export sector.
Nigeria's trade surplus stood at N7.54 trillion for Q1 2026. Strong crude oil sales offset weakness in other export categories.
