Nigeria’s terms of trade (ToT) declined by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2025 (Q3’25) as the value of imports increased by 0.16 per cent during the period.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its All Commodity Price Indices and ToT report for Q3.

ToT represents the ratio between a country’s export prices and its import prices. An increase in the terms of trade between two periods (or when ToT is greater than 100 per cent) means the value of exports is increasing relative to the value of imports, and the country can afford more imports for the same value of exports.

However, declining terms of trade (ToT) means a country would export more to buy the same amount of imports, leading to reduced purchasing power, potentially lower living standards, increased costs of technology, a widening current account deficit and greater difficulty paying foreign debt.

It also signals a weakening economic position.

In the first quarter of 2025, the terms of trade increased marginally by 0.05 per cent, while in the second quarter, it declined by 0.46 per cent.

The bureau also said all commodity group import and export indices on average increased by 0.16 and 0.06 per cent, respectively, in Q3.

“The all-commodity terms of trade for July, August and September 2025 stood at 102.23 per cent, 102.00 per cent, and 102.13 per cent, respectively.

“The all-commodity group terms trade decreased by 0.23 per cent points in August and increased by 0.13 per cent points in September, resulting in a (-0.10) per cent decrease between July and September 2025.”

The report noted that the all-region export index increased by 0.06 per cent points between July and September 2025. This revealed the general changes in export prices to America (+0.49), Africa (+0.01), Europe (-0.29), Asia (-0.22) and Oceania (-0.02).

Similarly, between July and August 2025, export prices decreased by -0.11 per cent, showing the changes in export price with Europe (-0.19), Asia (-0.11), Oceania (-0.01), America (+0.26) and Africa (+0.02).

On the other hand, the all-region import price index increased by 0.16 per cent between July and September 2025. This was due to changes in import prices from America (+0.23), Europe (+0.17), Africa (+0.15), Asia (+0.13) and Oceania (+0.06).

The month-on-month import price changes showed an increase of (+0.12) per cent in August and (+0.04) per cent in September 2025.

“Between July and August, changes in import prices according to regions were America (+0.14), Europe (+0.13), Africa (+0.11), Asia (+0.10) and Oceania (+0.04),” the report said.