Nigeria, China trade hits $8.76b in 2011

The value of trade between Nigeria and China was $8.76 billion as at October, Mr Rong Yansong, the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy has disclosed. Yansong, who made this known in Abuja on Wednesday, said that the figure was expected to increase to $10 billion by Dec. 31. He said that the $10 billion benchmark represented a 42.34 per cent increase as compared to $7.77 billion recorded in 2010.
He said that trade between both countries cuts across all sectors of the nation’s economy. According to him, the trade is mainly in crude oil, free zone projects, iron and steel, manufacturing, agriculture, fishery and pharmacy as exports from Nigeria. He said that mechanical and electronic products accounted for 60 per cent of China’s import into Nigeria. Rong said that Nigeria was China’s fourth largest trading partner in Africa with an export value of $1.07 billion representing an increase of 19.5 per cent over the figure in 2010.