Nigeria imports from Europe drop 23%

Nigeria’s import of products from Europe declined by N5.36tn in 2025, because the nation’s commerce shifts from conventional European companions in the direction of Asia and the Americas, knowledge from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics’ overseas commerce report has proven.

The NBS figures present that imports from Europe fell from N22.80tn in 2024 to N17.44tn in 2025, a pointy contraction that considerably altered Nigeria’s import composition regardless of an total enhance in whole imports.

Europe’s share of Nigeria’s whole imports dropped steeply from 37.63 per cent in 2024 to 25.90 per cent in 2025, indicating that the area is dropping its dominance as a significant supply of imported items into the nation.

This decline comes at the same time as Nigeria’s whole imports rose by N6.76tn year-on-year to N67.35tn in 2025, suggesting that the nation just isn’t importing much less, however sourcing extra items from different areas.

A more in-depth take a look at European commerce flows reveals uneven efficiency throughout key companions. Imports from Germany had been largely unchanged, dipping barely by N4.32bn to N1.26tn.

Nonetheless, the UK recorded a powerful enhance of N794.77bn to N1.83tn, whereas the Netherlands noticed imports surge by N1.04tn to N3.35tn. Italy additionally posted a big rise of N884.79bn to N1.83tn.

Regardless of these positive aspects, they had been outweighed by sharp declines from different main European suppliers. Imports from France fell by N760.08bn to N895.80bn, whereas Spain dropped by N414.17bn to N1.05tn, contributing to the general contraction in European imports.

In distinction, Asia not solely consolidated its place as Nigeria’s largest import associate but additionally widened the hole considerably. Imports from the area rose from N29.13tn in 2024 to N34.90tn in 2025, reflecting a rise of N5.77tn.

This development pushed Asia’s share of Nigeria’s whole imports from 48.08 per cent to 51.82 per cent, which means that greater than half of all items imported into Nigeria now originate from Asian markets.

The shift is much more pronounced when put next straight with Europe. Whereas the hole between Asia and Europe stood at N6.33tn in 2024, it widened dramatically to N17.45tn in 2025, highlighting the pace at which Nigeria is pivoting its commerce flows.

China stays the dominant driver of this transition. Imports from China surged by N5.64tn to N19.79tn in 2025, accounting for almost all the enhance in Asia’s whole export to Nigeria. This implies China alone contributed about 83 per cent of the full development in imports from Asia throughout the interval.

Imports from India additionally rose by N415.81bn to N6.59tn, whereas Japan recorded a modest enhance of N122.33bn to N580.48bn. Nonetheless, imports from different Asian nations declined barely by N412.17bn to N7.93tn, suggesting that Nigeria’s rising dependence is concentrated in a couple of main Asian economies, significantly China and India.

The info point out that Nigeria’s import construction is more and more tilted in the direction of Asia, pushed by large-scale inflows of manufactured items, equipment, electronics, and intermediate inputs which might be usually sourced from Asian industrial hubs.

Additional reinforcing this shift, imports from the Americas additionally recorded robust development, rising by N5.60tn to N11.87tn in 2025. The area’s share of Nigeria’s imports elevated from 10.35 per cent to 17.62 per cent, additional decreasing Europe’s relative significance.

The USA accounted for the majority of this enhance, with imports rising by N4.38tn to N8.45tn. Brazil and Canada additionally posted positive aspects, reflecting Nigeria’s increasing sourcing of commodities and industrial inputs from the Americas.

In the meantime, Africa’s contribution remained comparatively small however grew reasonably, with imports growing by N699.82bn to N2.86tn. Its share edged up barely from 3.56 per cent to 4.24 per cent.

Total, the info level to a structural realignment in Nigeria’s commerce patterns. Europe’s declining share, regardless of will increase from choose nations, contrasts sharply with Asia’s increasing dominance, significantly pushed by China’s rising export volumes to Nigeria.

The widening hole between Asia and Europe means that Nigeria is step by step decreasing its reliance on European items, changing them with imports from Asia, a shift that might have long-term implications for commerce partnerships, forex flows, and industrial provide chains.

The Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Personal Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, mentioned Asia’s dominance, particularly China’s, was anticipated given world commerce patterns. He described China as “Nigeria’s greatest import associate”, including that the Asian powerhouse accounts for a significant share of Nigeria’s uncooked materials imports.

Yusuf mentioned, “Asia is Nigeria’s main commerce associate. China is Nigeria’s greatest import associate. The China issue alone is sufficient to clarify this. Lots of imports come from China and India, particularly chemical compounds and plastics utilized by producers.”

He defined that Nigerian industries relied closely on imported inputs reminiscent of chemical compounds, plastic polymers, and polypropylene, that are cheaper to supply from Asian markets.

“Our producers import giant volumes of chemical and allied uncooked supplies,” the CPPE chief mentioned. “Most of them come from Asia as a result of the area provides a transparent worth benefit over Europe.”

Yusuf acknowledged that such dependency poses a “focus danger” however confused that companies usually prioritise price effectivity over diversification. “It’s not best to rely an excessive amount of on one supply,” he mentioned. “However these are enterprise choices. Companies will all the time purchase from the place they get one of the best deal.”

He famous that China’s effectivity and aggressive pricing have made it the popular provider for Nigerian industries, including, “So long as China stays dependable, companies will follow them. The perfect strategy is to handle focus danger and construct different provide channels as backup.”

A former Vice President of the Producers Affiliation of Nigeria, John Aluya, earlier informed The PidomNigeria that the development of Asian dominance just isn’t distinctive to Nigeria, as China has grow to be the worldwide hub for uncooked materials manufacturing and provide.

Aluya defined, “China as we speak is the manufacturing hub of the world. Each area depends on China for most elementary uncooked supplies. When you say Asia, you’re primarily speaking about China, as a result of China alone accounts for over 90 per cent of Asia’s uncooked materials output.”

He defined that the excessive import share from Asia was inevitable, as even developed nations depend upon China’s manufacturing capability. “Even America imports extra from China than from wherever else,” he mentioned.

Aluya linked Nigeria’s reliance to its weak extraction and processing infrastructure, stressing, “We now have uncooked supplies, however our extraction and processing programs are poor. Till we repair that, we are going to proceed importing from China.”

Nonetheless, the Group Managing Director of GMD, Cowry Asset Administration, Johnson Chukwu, earlier mentioned {that a} excessive quantity of imports from China signifies that any disruption in China’s provide chains, like these seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, may set off a brand new wave of inflation and financial instability in Nigeria.

Chukwu mentioned, “You’ll observe that China has grow to be so vital to this nation, and I hope the federal government finds methods to take care of this as a result of, for me, it’s changing into a menace. So, if there’s a shutdown or provide chain disruption in China as we speak, we’re going to have a significant inflationary impression on the nation.

“So, the federal government wants to think about that. I do know Western nations are already doing quite a lot of issues to diversify their productiveness base from China, and they’re transferring to India and to Vietnam to be sure that after the COVID lockdown, what occurred won’t occur once more.”

The Chinese language Consul Normal in Lagos, Yan Yuqing, not too long ago reaffirmed China’s dedication to strengthening financial and commerce ties with Nigeria. “China has remained Africa’s largest buying and selling associate for 16 consecutive years,” Yuqing mentioned.