Nigeria's bilateral trade with U.S. hits $34b, says State Department

NIGERIA'S bilateral trade with the United States of America (USA), hit $34 billion last year, representing a 51 per cent rise over that of the preceding year.Specifically, exports from Nigeria to USA during the period under review was $30 billion, while the country imported goods worth $4 billion from the world's biggest economy, tilting the balance of trade in favour of the West African country.The development has now made Nigeria to remain the largest trading partner of USA in sub-Saharan Africa.The latest publication on Nigeria released by the State Department on Monday, stated thatthe increasein trade was largely due to the recovery in the international price of crude oil.Nigeria is the fifth-largest exporter of oil to the U.S.and accounts for eightper cent of America's oil imports.The publicationnotes noted thatU. S. goods exported to Nigeria in 2010, including cereals (wheat and rice),motor vehicles, petroleum products, and machinery, were worth more than $4billion.Similarly, it indicated that U.S.' imports from Nigeria was over $30 billion,consistingmainly of crude oil.It stated that cocoa, bauxite and aluminium, tobacco and waxes, rubber, and grains constitutedabout $73 million of U.S. imports from Nigeria in 2010.'Although the trade balance overwhelmingly favours Nigeriadue to oil exports, a large portionof U.S. exports to Nigeria is believed to enter the country illegally,' it added.The U.S. trade deficit with Nigeria in 2010 was $26 billion, while the country was ranked the 13th largest trading partner for the U.S. in 2010.The publication put the stock of U.S. Foreign Direct Investments in Nigeria in 2009, at $5.4 billion,up from $3.4 billion in 2008.It added that U.S. FDI in Nigeriaconcentrated largely in the petroleum/mining and wholesale trade sectors.
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