Nigeria spends $2.34bn on food imports in 2025, down 7.4%
Nigeria’s Food Import Spending Declines to $2.34 Billion in 2025
By Babajide Komolafe
Nigeria’s expenditure on food imports fell by 7.4% year-on-year in 2025, reaching $2.34 billion. This decline indicates a reduction in the country’s reliance on imported food, despite a significant increase in overall import spending. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s quarterly statistical bulletin for the fourth quarter of 2025, food import spending decreased from $2.53 billion in 2024, marking a reduction of $186.42 million.
This decrease follows an 18.8% rise in food import spending in 2024 from $2.129 billion in 2023, suggesting a reversal of the prior upward trend.
In 2025, food imports represented a smaller portion of Nigeria’s total import bill, accounting for 11.8% compared to 16.3% in 2024. The decline in the share of food imports can be attributed to a more rapid growth in overall imports, even as food import spending remained relatively stable.
Data from the Central Bank indicates that Nigeria’s total imports increased by 28% year-on-year in 2025, rising to $19.897 billion from $15.544 billion in 2024, an increase of $4.353 billion. This follows a previous increase from $14.276 billion in 2023.
A quarterly analysis shows that three out of four quarters in 2025 experienced lower food import values compared to the same periods in 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, food imports dropped by 20.3% to $550.09 million from $689.88 million in the first quarter of 2024. Similarly, in the second quarter, food import spending decreased by 6.0% to $515.04 million from $547.70 million.
The third quarter, however, saw a rare increase, with food imports rising by 3.2% to $653.85 million from $633.63 million in the third quarter of 2024. This upward trend was short-lived, as food import spending declined again in the fourth quarter by 5.2% to $624.36 million from $658.55 million in the same quarter of 2024.
