Nigeria Spends N3.30tn on Food and Beverage Imports in H1 2026
Nigeria spent N3.30 trillion on food and beverage imports in the first half of 2026, with import expenditure accelerating sharply in the second quarter.
This is according to an analysis of the Q1 and Q2 2026 Foreign Trade Statistics reports released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The country’s food and beverage import bill stood at N1.39 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 before rising to N1.91 trillion in the second quarter, bringing total expenditure for the six-month period to N3.30 trillion.
Despite the quarterly increase, the H1 2026 figure represents a 3.1% decline from the N3.40 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
Q2 Import Spending Surges
The N1.91 trillion spent in Q2 2026 represents a substantial increase from the N1.39 trillion recorded in Q1, reflecting stronger import expenditure during the second quarter.
For comparison, Nigeria spent N1.67 trillion on food and beverage imports in Q1 2025 and N1.73 trillion in Q2, bringing total spending for the first half of that year to N3.40 trillion.
The latest figures show that while food and beverage import spending remains significantly elevated, total expenditure in the first half of 2026 was slightly lower than the previous year’s level.
The decline comes despite the sharp quarter-on-quarter increase recorded between Q1 and Q2, indicating that the overall H1 reduction was driven by lower spending in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2025.
