Nigeria’s crude oil exports plunged by N3.18 trillion in the first half of 2025, underlining the country’s continued struggles with output levels and global market shifts.

Data from the foreign trade statistics report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show crude oil exports fell to N24.92 trillion in H1 2025, compared to N28.10 trillion in the same period of 2024 and 11.3% decline in value.

Further analysis showed that in Q1 2025, crude oil exports were valued at N12.96 trillion, but this dropped further to N11.97 trillion in Q2. Crude’s share of total exports slid to 52.6% in Q2 2025, down sharply from 71.2% in Q2 2024. This marks a significant erosion of oil’s dominance in Nigeria’s external trade.

As crude still the main source of government revenue, the decline poses fiscal risks even as total exports grow.

While crude exports weakened, non-crude categories surged. Non-crude exports more than doubled year-on-year, rising from N8.79 trillion in H1 2024 to N18.43 trillion in H1 2025.

Within this, non-oil exports, such as agricultural goods and solid minerals, held steady at just above N3 trillion across both quarters of 2025.

The biggest gains came from refined petroleum products and semi-processed goods, which helped push the share of non-crude exports to 41% of total exports in H1 2025, compared to 24% a year earlier.

Despite the N3.18 trillion fall in crude exports, Nigeria posted a stronger trade surplus in H1 2025. Total exports stood at N43.35 trillion, while imports were N30.71 trillion, leaving a surplus of N12.64 trillion — a 54.6% jump from the N8.17 trillion recorded in H1 2024.