Hands holding a Chinese one yuan banknote

Market note, 31 August 2026. Mid-market reference rates. See the live board for current figures.

On 31 August the dollar bought about 6.72 yuan and about 1,346 naira. Divide one by the other and a single yuan costs roughly 200 naira. That cross rate is the number that governs your payment if your supplier invoices in yuan, and a surprising number of importers watch only the dollar.

Which currency actually decides your cost

Both matter, but not equally on every order. The dollar governs international trade generally. Freight, global quotations, customs valuation references and most cross-border settlement are dollar-denominated even when the goods come from China. The yuan governs the factory. Chinese manufacturers cost their production, labour, materials and domestic logistics in yuan. The closer you deal to the actual factory rather than through a trading company, the more likely your invoice is written in yuan. So the practical question is not which currency is more important in general. It is which currency your invoice is written in, because that is the rate that will decide what leaves your account.

Why the cross rate deserves its own attention

Because it can move even when the naira to dollar rate looks calm. If the naira holds against the dollar but the yuan strengthens against the dollar, your yuan invoice gets more expensive in naira while the headline rate on the news has not moved at all. Anyone tracking only the dollar will not see it coming. On a machine invoiced at 100,000 yuan, a five naira move on the cross rate is 500,000 naira. That is not a rounding difference on a purchase of that size.

What to do about it

Ask the supplier, early, which currency the invoice will be issued in, and get it in writing. It is a one-line question that removes a whole category of surprise. Then track that currency specifically, and hold your costing in the invoice currency until the day you convert. Watch the other one anyway, since it shapes what your supplier quotes over time. And remember that all of these are reference rates. What your bank will actually give you on the day is a different number, and it is the one that matters.

Paying a factory in yuan or dollars? We build the landed cost in naira with the currency exposure shown as its own line rather than buried. See the live board or get in touch.