Spain, Netherlands Top Nigeria’s Export Destination

Spain has overtaken India to become Nigeria’s top export destination in the second quarter of 2020.

This was contained in the latest foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday.

Spain received 14% (N310.7 billion) of the total export trade of Nigeria in Q2 as against the 9.87% (N402.93 billion) recorded in Q1 2020.

Closely followed by Spain is the Netherlands with 10.98% (N243.6 billion), up from 9.72% recorded in Q1 2020. While China received 9.93% share (N220.35 billion), India got 8.81% (N195.5 billion), down from the 15.61% (N637.53 billion) seen in Q1. South Africa got 7.76% (N172.19 billion) share within the same quarter.

The report also stated that crude oil exports accounted for 70% (N1.55 trillion) of the total value of exports in Q2 2020. However, crude oil exports decreased in value by 47.2% in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2020 and 60.5% year-on-year.

According to nairametrics, the latest crude oil export is the lowest recorded in the past four years. The last time a lower value was recorded was in Q2 2016 (N1.49 trillion).

Nigeria’s crude oil earnings from India, the world’s third-largest importer of crude, dropped after the latter recorded its lowest oil imports in 10 years in the month of June 2020.

According to Reuters, India’s oil imports dropped in the month of June as its refineries reduced demand due to maintenance and turnarounds.

India reportedly imported 3.2 million barrels per day in June, the lowest since October 2011 and a 0.4% decline from May and 28.5% lower than the same period in 2019.