Determinants of Nigeria-China Bilateral Trade in Manufacturing Products

In the recent times, there has been an increasing spread of trade tentacles of China into the hinterland of many developing nations of the world. The need to secure resources to meet the development aspiration of her country made China to increasingly forged formidable trade ties with almost all African countries, especially Nigeria, in the area of manufacturing products. While these realities have proved to be beneficial to the trading partners, there is still skepticism about the benefits of such trade relations to Nigeria. There is a perceived dis-proportionality in the quantum of bilateral inflow of manufacturing products between Nigeria and China. This study therefore addressed these concerns by applying gravity model to analyze the determinants of bilateral trade relation in manufacturing products between Nigeria and China for the period of 1995 to 2012. Thus, from the stylized facts, we find evidence of increasing influx of China manufactured products into Nigeria while that of Nigeria outflow to them is of low magnitude. This paper therefore recommended the diversification of economic base of Nigeria crucial for a more beneficial China-Nigeria bilateral trade in manufactures.