Abdulwahab Isa 
Nigeria recorded foreign trade deficit balance in the sum of N1.8 trillion in second quarter 2020, going by foreign trade data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The total value of Nigeria’s foreign trade stood at N6.24 trillion in the quarter under review, representing a sharp fall of 27.30 per cent compared to N8.58 trillion recorded in the first quarter of this year. Import component stood at N4.02 trillion, representing a drop of 10.69 per cent in the second quarter, against N4.50 trillion recorded in the first quarter. Export component accounted for N2.21 trillion of the total trade, indicating a decline of 45.64 percent against N4.08 trillion recorded in the first quarter of this year.
Consequently, the trade balance recorded a deficit of N1.8 trillion, marking the third consecutive quarter of negative trade balance. Nigeria’s trade deficit was N421.3 billion in the first quarter of this year and N579.06 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
Total trade in agricultural goods stood at N493.7 billion, of which exported agricultural goods accounted for N78.1 billion. “Most Agricultural goods were exported to Asia, Europe and America valued at N43.6 billion, N26.4 billion and N6.6 billion. “The key driver of agricultural products exports were superior quality raw cocoa beans, Sesamum seeds, Cashew nuts, good fermented cocoa beans and more,” the report stated. According to NBS, main consumers of superior quality cocoa were The Netherlands (N9.3 billion), Indonesia (N3.7 billion) and United States (N2.4 billion). Other agricultural exports were Sesamum seeds exported to Japan (N6bn) and to China, worth N2.3 billion. Also, cashew nuts were exported to Vietnam, worth N12 billion.
