All-commodity terms of trade (ToT) declined by 0.10 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 Q3’25.

The terms of trade represent 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 that the value of exports is increasing relative to the value of imports, allowing the country to afford more imports for the same value of exports.

Conversely, a declining terms of trade means a country must export more to buy the same amount of imports, leading to reduced purchasing power, potentially lower living standards, increased costs for technology, a widening current account deficit, and greater difficulty in servicing 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, and in the second quarter, it declined by 0.46 per cent.

The bureau also said that the all-commodity group import and export indices for Q3 2025, on average, increased by 0.16 and 0.06 per cent, respectively. According to the report, “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 of Trade decreased by 0.23 percentage points in August and increased by 0.13 percentage 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 percentage points between July and September 2025. This reflected 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 changes in export prices 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.