Nigerians imported food and beverages valued at N1.67tn between January and March 2025, according to latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The figure represents a marginal increase of five per cent compared to the N1.59tn recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
However, the data also reveal a steep year-on-year increase of over 125 per cent from the N740.10bn reported in the same period of 2023.
The statistics, which were contained in the bureau’s Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics Report for the first quarter of 2025, show that food and beverage imports have been on a consistent rise since 2020.
In the first quarter of 2020, the value of such imports stood at N419.05bn.
This rose to N599.89bn in Q1 2021 and further to N674.16bn in Q1 2022. By Q1 2023, the figure had grown to N740.10bn.
The sharpest rise, however, occurred between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, when the value more than doubled to N1.59tn.
This upward trend continued into the first quarter of 2025, reaching N1.67tn.
While the quarter-on-quarter comparison shows a 10.4 per cent decline from the N1.87tn recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024, the year-on-year increase offers a clearer picture of rising dependence on imported food.
The decline from the preceding quarter is typical of Q1 trade cycles, which are generally lower due to the post-festive economic slowdown and reduced shipping activity early in the year.
A closer look at the composition of the food and beverage imports in Q1 2025 reveals that N730.01bn worth of the items were categorised as primary food products, while the remaining N940.95bn were classified as processed food imports.
Both categories experienced significant growth when compared with previous years.
Primary food imports rose marginally from N726.76bn in Q1 2024 to N730.01bn in Q1 2025.
However, this was nearly double the N374.95bn recorded in Q1 2023. Within the primary food category, imports mainly for industrial use fell from N540.11bn in Q1 2024 to N425.62bn in Q1 2025, a drop of over 21 per cent.
On the other hand, primary food imports intended mainly for household consumption rose sharply from N186.65bn to N304.39bn during the same period, representing an increase of 63 per cent.
In the processed food segment, imports increased from N865.49bn in Q1 2024 to N940.95bn in Q1 2025, indicating a 9 per cent rise.
Compared with the N365.15bn recorded in Q1 2023, this represented an increase of over 158 per cent. Processed food products mainly for industrial use climbed to N590.37bn in Q1 2025 from N507.21bn in Q1 2024.
Meanwhile, those imported mainly for household consumption saw a slight drop from N358.27bn to N350.58bn.
The NBS data points to a growing reliance on food imports, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, naira devaluations, and rising insecurity in food-producing regions.
The trend has persisted despite several government programmes aimed at boosting local production, including the Anchor Borrowers Programme and multiple initiatives under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
NBS had earlier said the food inflation rate in April 2025 was 21.36 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
This, the bureau said, was 19.27 per cent lower compared to the rate recorded in April 2024 (40.53 per cent).
“The significant decline in the food annual inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year,” the statistics firm said.
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in April 2025 was 2.06 per cent, down by 0.12 per cent compared to March 2025 (2.18 per cent).
“The decrease can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of Maize (Corn) Flour, Wheat Grain, Okra Dried, Yam Flour, Soya Beans, Rice, Bambara beans, Brown Beans, etc, it added”
The report said in April 2025, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Benue (51.76 per cent), Ekiti (34.05 percent), and Kebbi (33.82 per cent), while Ebonyi (7.19 per cent), Adamawa (9.52 per cent), and Ogun (9.91 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.
On a month-on-month basis, however, NBS said food inflation was highest in Benue (25.59 per cent), Ekiti (16.73 per cent), and Yobe (13.92 per cent).
The bureau added that Ebonyi (-14.43 per cent), Kano (-11.37 per cent), and Ogun (-7.06 per cent) recorded a decline in food
However, a report by SBM Intelligence recently showed that about 50 per cent of minimum wage earners in Nigeria spend all their earnings on food.
Last year, a report by the World Food Programme revealed that 33 million people are expected to face acute food insecurity in Nigeria by 2025.
