Import index grows by 0.52% in Q3 — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the all-commodity group import index grew marginally by 0.52 per cent between July and Sept.

It said this on Tuesday in Abuja, in the “Commodity Price Indices and Terms of Trade for Quarter Three, 2021,” published on its website.

The report said the growth was driven mainly by products of the chemical and allied industries, wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal and articles, paper making materials, paper and paperboard articles.

The NBS also said that between July and August, the all-commodity group export price index averagely declined by 2.33 per cent due to decreases in the prices of mineral products, animal and vegetable fats and oils and other cleavage products and vehicles, aircraft and parts as well as vessels.

The report said that for the all-region group import index, there was a 0.52 per cent increase due to marginal increases in import prices from all the regions.

It added that the all-region terms of trade on average decreased by 2.85 per cent due to lower export prices to all the regions with rising import prices from all the regions.

“The major export and import market of Nigeria in quarter three were India, Spain, Italy, France and China.

“The major exports to these countries were crude petroleum and Liquefied Natural Gas.”

The NBS added that the major imports from these countries were motorcycles, vehicles with fuel engine, motor spirits, polyethylene and instruments, appliances and machines for measuring.

The bureau explained that Terms of Trade (TOT) represents the ratio between a country’s export prices and its import prices.

“The ratio is calculated by dividing the price of the exports by the price of the imports, usually in percentage terms.

“An increase in the TOT between two periods (or when TOT is greater than 100 per cent) means that the value of exports is increasing relative to the value of imports and the country can afford more imports for the same value of exports.”