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China dominates Nigeria’s imports while Spain leads as top export destination in Q2 2025

China remains Nigeria’s largest import partner, accounting for ₦4.96T or 32.45% of total imports—more than double the U.S.'s share.
The United States holds second place in imports, contributing ₦2.16T (14.12%), while India, the Netherlands, and the UAE follow with smaller shares below 6%.
Spain tops Nigeria’s export market, receiving ₦2.47T worth of goods, representing 10.85% of total exports.
Europe features strongly among export partners, with Spain, France, and the Netherlands together absorbing nearly a quarter of Nigeria’s outbound trade.

Togo emerges as Nigeria’s largest African trading partner in Q2 2025

Togo leads on both sides of trade, supplying ₦211.99B in imports and receiving ₦811.97B in exports, making it Nigeria’s strongest African partner by value.
South Africa ranks second, with imports of ₦115.15B and exports of ₦473.65B, reflecting deep bilateral trade ties.
Côte d’Ivoire also features prominently, sending ₦106.15B worth of goods to Nigeria while importing ₦408.97B, showing balanced engagement.
West Africa dominates Nigeria’s intra-African trade, with Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana collectively accounting for a significant share of regional exports.

Nigeria’s foreign trade hit ₦38 trillion in Q2 2025, driven by strong export growth

Total trade in Q2 2025 was valued at ₦38.04tn.
Imports accounted for ₦15.29tn, led by manufactured goods and petroleum products.
Exports reached ₦22.75tn, boosted mainly by crude oil.
The trade gap favoured Nigeria with a surplus of ₦7.46tn.

Nigeria’s trade balance from 2008 to 2023 showed exports outpacing imports with a 57.7% share

Nigeria maintained a positive trade balance, with exports accounting for 57.7% against imports at 42.3%.
Oil and gas remain the backbone of Nigeria’s export dominance, shaping the overall surplus.
The import share reflects the country’s reliance on foreign goods, particularly refined petroleum, machinery, and food products.
Sustaining export strength while reducing import dependency remains key to Nigeria’s long-term economic resilience.

Financial services dominated Nigeria’s $1.5bn digital services exports in 2024

Financial services dominate Nigeria’s digitally delivered exports, contributing $1.15bn (over 74%).
Telecommunications ($184m) and insurance & pension services ($147m) follow, though far smaller.
Computer, information, and IP services registered almost no exports, highlighting untapped digital potential.
Nigeria’s digital exports remain highly concentrated in finance, leaving other sub-sectors underdeveloped.

After the 2020 crash, US-Nigeria trade value climbed to $10B+ in 2024

Key Takeaways:

The US' trade deficit with Nigeria narrowed significantly, shifting from a $5.14 billion deficit in 2017 to a $1.69 billion surplus in 2024.
US goods exports to Nigeria reached $4.2 billion in 2024, representing a 92% increase from the $2.2 billion recorded in 2017.
US goods imports from Nigeria totalled $5.9 billion in 2024, a 20% decrease from the $7.3 billion recorded in 2017.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted bilateral trade in 2020, but both imports and exports began recovering steadily from 2021 onwards.
By 2024, trade had rebounded substantially, with US imports from Nigeria reaching $5.87 billion and exports to Nigeria reaching $4.17 billion.
Despite experiencing persistent trade deficits from 2017 through most of the period, the US achieved trade surpluses with Nigeria in 2020 and 2021.
Total goods trade between the US and Nigeria ranged from $4 billion to approximately $10 billion.

88% of Nigeria's 2024 exports came from crude oil and co., 5.73% from agriculture

Key Takeaways:

Petroleum products (crude oil and other oil products) dominated Nigeria's export landscape in 2024, accounting for 88.26% of total export value.
Agricultural exports contributed 5.73% to export value, despite Nigeria's significant agricultural potential.
The manufacturing sector made up just 2.95% of the total export value.
Nigeria’s total export value reached ₦77.44 trillion in 2024 from ₦35.96 trillion in 2023.
Non-oil sectors collectively made up less than 12% of export value.

Nigeria's trade surplus peaked at ₦16.8t in 2012, reaching its lowest in 2023

Between 2008 and 2015, Nigeria experienced consistent trade surpluses.

In 2023, Nigeria recorded the least trade surplus in 16 years since 2008.

Nigeria recorded trade deficits in three years (2016, 2020, and 2021) since 2008.
2021's ₦1.9 trillion deficit marked a downturn in trade performance

Nigeria's crude oil exports surge to ₦29 trillion in 2023, marking a record high

Crude oil exports, which made up 81% of Nigeria's export value in 2023 have increased in three consecutive years since 2021. After a 36% decline in 2020, exports increased by 53% in 2021, 46% in 2022, and 37% in 2023 to reach ₦29 trillion.

Europe and Asia were Nigeria's top destinations for exports and imports, respectively, in H1 2023

In H1 2023, Nigeria's total trade was ₦24.79 trillion — ₦13.5 trillion worth of exports and ₦11.29 trillion imports. Here are Nigeria’s trading partners by region in H1 2023.