Nigeria, in August, imported some synthetic filament yarn woven fabrics, fake hair, rubber footwear and other goods valued at ($2.07 billion) from China in July, 2021. Also, a total of $456.55 million goods were exported by Nigeria in the same period to China, leading to a trade deficit of $1.61 billion in one month.
It was gathered that Chinese goods that originated from Guangdong Province, valued $480 million; Zhejiang Province, $480 million; Shandong Province, $237 million; Jiangsu Province, $220 million and Fujian Province, $141 million. Data from United Nations’ International Trade Statistics (ITS) revealed that export destinations of Nigerian goods were mainly Beijing, $294 million; Fujian Province, $43.3 million; Hainan Province, $42 million, Hebei Province, $32.6 million and Guangdong Province, $24.6 million.
However in August, ITS noted that Nigeria exported $269.62 million goods, leading to a drop in trade by N93.2 billion or 41 per cent from the July exports of $456.55 million. In July 2021, top exports of China to Nigeria were non-knit women’s suits, $158 million; light pure woven cotton, $105 million; synthetic filament yarn woven fabric, $98.8 million; fake hair, $72 million; and rubber footwear, $58.9 million. Also, top exports of Nigeria to China in the period were crude petroleum, $249 million; petroleum gas, $172 million; lead ore, $7.42 million; zinc ore, $4.35 million and raw aluminium, $4.19 million.
Between July 2020 and July 2021, the ITS statistics noted that exports of China increased by $466 million or 29.1 per cent from $1.6 billion to $2.07 billion, while imports increased by $12.8 million or 2.88 per cent from $444 million to $456.55 million.
It was gathered that the increase in China’s year-by-year exports to Nigeria was boosted by the increase in product exports in non-knit women’s suits, which was increased by 264 per cent, light pure woven cotton, 66.4 per cent and fake hair 83.9 per cent. Also, the increase in Nigeria’s year-by-year exports to China was enhanced by petroleum gas export which was up by 42.3 percent; lead ore, 250 per cent and zinc ore 177 per cent. It would be recalled that in 2019, China exported $15.5 billion to Nigeria. The main products exported from China to Nigeria were telephones, $526 million; rubber tires, $360 million and light pure woven cotton, $301 million.
During the period, main products exported from Nigeria to China were valued at $2.52 billion. Crude oil exports to China accounted for $1.14 billion; petroleum gas, $1.11 billion, while niobium, tantalum, vanadium and zirconium ore were valued at $43 million. It would be recalled that in 2020, the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria explained that China-Nigeria trade relations was the largest in the continent with an increase of 0.7 per cent at $13.66 billion in 2020 over the previous year. According to Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of China in Nigeria, Zhao Yong, China’s exports to Nigeria were $11.58 billion, decreased by 2.4 per cent; imports from Nigeria were $2.09 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22.7 per cent. He noted: “To China, Nigeria has remained the biggest importer and second largest trading partner in Africa. “Our bilateral trade volume is more than tenth of China’s trade with the whole continent.”