Nigeria’s Food Import Bill Drops to $2.34 Billion in 2025 as FX Utilisation Surges
By Aboki Forex —
Nigeria spent $2.34 billion on food imports in 2025, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest Quarterly Statistical Bulletin. This marks a 7.37% decline from the $2.53 billion recorded in 2024, signalling a moderation in food-related foreign exchange demand.
Despite the drop, Nigeria remains heavily reliant on imported food. The CBN data shows that food imports consumed an average of $195.28 million monthly last year. Monthly figures fluctuated, with January seeing $213.11 million, February $195.68 million, and March $141.30 million. April dipped to $141.13 million before rising to $202.83 million in May and easing to $171.08 million in June.
Demand strengthened in the second half of 2025. July recorded $229.70 million, August $175.55 million, and September hit a high of $248.60 million. October came in at $193.05 million, November at $185.45 million, and December closed at $245.86 million.
Share of total FX drops sharply
Food imports took a smaller slice of total foreign exchange utilisation in 2025. Their share fell from 9.49% in 2024 to 4.97% in 2025, a drop of 4.52 percentage points. This happened even as total forex utilisation jumped by 77% to $47.17 billion from $26.65 billion the previous year.
Total food import utilisation declined by $186.40 million year-on-year, even as the broader economy used significantly more foreign exchange across other sectors.
What the numbers mean
The decline in food import spending could point to weaker import demand or better local substitution in some categories. But spending over $2.3 billion on food imports still shows Nigeria’s dependence on foreign food supply chains.
Nairametrics earlier reported that Nigeria’s spending on food and beverage imports surged to N7.65 trillion in 2025, based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics. That figure highlighted the country’s growing reliance on foreign food supplies amid rising domestic demand and structural challenges in agriculture.
Opeoluwa Runsewe, CEO of Terroso Group, warned that Nigeria is “exporting jobs and importing inflation.” He pointed to structural inefficiencies and global disruptions like the Middle East conflict straining Nigeria’s logistics chain and worsening food security.