Nigeria’s latest foreign trade report from the National Bureau of Statistics shows a continued strengthening in the country’s external sector, with total merchandise trade rising by 11.41% year-on-year to N112.99 trillion in the first nine months of 2025, up from N101.43 trillion a year earlier.
The growth was driven largely by stronger export performance, helped by a relatively weak naira that made Nigerian goods more attractive in the global market.
Exports climbed 15.21% year-on-year to N66.16 trillion from N57.43 trillion in the same period of 2024, comfortably outpacing imports, which rose by 6.45% to N46.84 trillion from N44.00 trillion. This dynamic pushed the trade surplus sharply higher by 43.93%, reaching N19.33 trillion compared with N13.43 trillion last year.
In the third quarter alone, total trade stood at N38.94 trillion, an 8.71% increase over the N35.82 trillion recorded in Q3 2024 and a modest 2.36% rise from N38.04 trillion in Q2 2025. Exports accounted for 58.59% of total trade, amounting to N22.81 trillion which is an 11.08% improvement from a year earlier and slightly higher than Q2’s N22.75 trillion.
Crude oil remained the backbone of Nigeria’s external sector, totalling N12.81 trillion and representing 56.14% of total exports. Non-crude exports contributed N10.01 trillion, with non-oil products making up N2.99 trillion, or 13.14% of the export basket.
Imports made up 41.41% of total trade in Q3, valued at N16.12 trillion. This rep- resented a 5.51% increase from N15.28 trillion in Q3 2024 and a 5.47% rise from N15.27 trillion in Q2 2025.
The merchandise trade balance remained firmly positive at N6.69 trillion, although it reflected a 10.36% decline from the previous quarter. Mineral fuels dominated imports at N5.15 trillion or 31.97% of the total, followed by machinery and transport equipment at N4.25 trillion and chemicals at N2.35 trillion.
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