The value of manufactured goods trade deficit has grown to N27.33tn in two years, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

In its ‘Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics’ for the four quarters of 2020 and 2021, NBS disclosed that manufacturing imports rose from N12.71tn in 2020 to N16.73tn in 2021, while exports rose from N960.7bn in 2020 to N1.15tn in 2021.

Cumulative imports for both years under review totalled N29.44tn, making up 93.30 per cent of foreign manufactured trade. Exports for both years totalled N2.11tn, making up 6.69 per cent of the same trade.

Total manufactured goods for both years grew to N31.55tn. According to NBS, used vehicles, motorcycles, and machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images drove import.

In 2021, total value of imports of used vehicles was N418.34bn, motorcycles was N367.39bn, while import of machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice and images was put N366.83bn.

In 2020, the total value of imported used vehicles was N593bn, while that of motorcycles was put at N415.87bn. The nation imported used vehicles from the United States, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil, and Canada.  It imported motorcycles from India and China.

It imported machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images from China, Hong-Kong, and Sweden.

According to the statistics body of the nation, vessels and other floating structures, aluminum alloys, and floating or submersible drilling platforms formed the major component of exported manufactured goods.

NBS said Nigeria exported manufactured goods to Ghana, Cameroon, China, and Japan majorly in 2021.

In its, ‘Nigeria Selected Issues,’ report released in February 2022, the International Monetary Fund disclosed that Nigeria’s high economic dependence on oil was impeding its ability to develop its manufacturing sector.

It added that some components of what Nigeria exports as manufactured trade items could be classified as imports since they were once imported into the nation for use.

It said, “In turn, high economic dependence on oil impedes diversification through overshadowing, among others, the competitiveness of other tradable sectors, particularly manufacturing.

“Caution is warranted not to interpret rising machinery exports as an expansion of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria, as helicopters, vessels, and other floating structures are foreign manufactured goods that were re-exported from Nigeria (according to data from the NBS trade report for 2021Q1).

“Re-exports are goods of foreign origin which entered Nigeria to be consumed but are subsequently sold to another country without any substantial transformation. In other words, they are exported in the same condition as imported. In 2021Q1, they represented 83.5 per cent of the total manufactured goods exported from the country.”

Punch