info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
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Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and the most populous country, so China is motivated to ensure that Nigeria's expanding middle class continues to buy Chinese manufactured goods.
Nigeria offers Chinese companies a range of profitable business and trade opportunities. As of May 2019, Chinese companies have invested $20 billion in more than 150 companies in Nigeria.
The importation of Chinese-made consumable and manufactured goods to Nigeria underpins the two countries' trading relationship as Nigeria is one of the largest and fastest-growing net importers of physical Chinese goods.
In 2017, Nigeria's top import sources were China ($9.6 billion), Belgium ($3.0 billion) and the Netherlands ($2.8 billion). Nigeria imports more from China than its other top two import sources combined, and in Q2'19, Chinese goods accounted for a quarter of all imported goods.
Nigerian entrepreneurs make regular commercial visits to Chinese manufacturing centres like Guangzhou where Chinese traders have come to rely on them for bulk purchases. Among African nationalities in Guangzhou, the two countries with by far the most people are the West African nations of Nigeria and Mali.
Another salient feature of China in Nigeria is China's state-directed investment in major infrastructure and industrial projects. Many large Nigerian infrastructure projects are financed by low-interest Chinese loans. Chinese firms are in the process of executing more than $20 billion in rail construction contracts across Nigeria, including new commuter railways in Abuja and Lagos.
Many Chinese firms operate in free-trade zones often overseen by Chinese-led management teams appointed by Nigerian government officials. These businesses are benefiting from a growing network of subnational commercial ties between Chinese provinces (Guangdong, Hebei, and Jiangxi, for example) and some Nigerian states.
Nigeria's top import products are refined petroleum oils, wheat and cars followed by monument or building stone, sugar then frozen whole fish.
The following table displays 10 of Nigeria’s most in-demand imported goods during 2018.
1 Processed petroleum oils $10.6 billion
2 Light vessels, fire boats, floating docks $3.3 billion
3 Wheat $1.2 billion
4 Cars $1 billion
5 Motorcycles $594.4 million
6 Whole fish (frozen) $543.9 million
7 Phone system devices includnig smartphones $472.5 million
8 Sugar (cane or beet) $446.4 million
9 Medication mixes in dosage $388.4 million
10 Hot-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products $364.6 million
