Phones, electrical generating sets, and transformers made up about 46.06% of the total electrical equipment imported in 2022.
Import data culled from the International Trade Center (ITC) has shown that Nigeria spent $3.47 billion importing electrical equipment in 2022.
Phones, electrical generating sets, and transformers made up about 46.06% of the total electrical equipment imported in 2022.
Some of the equipment identified under the electrical machinery and equipment category on the ITC portal include but are not limited to, electric motors and generators, electric generating sets, electrical transformers, vacuum cleaners, electric shavers, hair clippers, and telephone sets which include smartphones, facsimile machines for line telephony, teleprinters, and parts of telephone sets.
In 2022, the total value of phone imports was put at $773.56 million. This figure represents a 0.17% increase year-on-year from $772.25 million recorded in 2021.
During the same period, the value of electric motors and electric generating equipment imported stood at $468.65 million while the value of electrical transformers imported during the period was $357.36 million.
The import countries of the electrical equipment were mainly China, India, Germany, Türkiye, Sweden, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Vietnam, and France.
The report sourced from ITC also revealed that Nigeria’s electrical importation bill experienced a growth of 11.90% from $3.09 billion in 2022. The report also showed that Nigeria spent $10.26 billion importing electrical equipment over the past three years amid falling foreign exchange reserves.
The high value of phone imports in 2022 may be connected to a report which showed that there was an increased demand for used phones during the period.
According to Counterpoint Research’s Global Refurbished Smartphone Tracker, the demand for used smartphones increased by 5% y-o-y. The demand, which was projected to be higher was, however, affected by a declining Chinese market as their phone manufacturing output dropped by 17%.
According to the report, the decline faced by China was traced to the return of COVID-19 and the re-enforcement of policies aimed at restricting movement and the spread of the virus. This affected businesses as the supply and demand of major products were put on hold during the period.
The market was, however, taken over by India as the phone manufacturing business in the country grew by 19% y-o-y in 2022.
