By Fatima Muhammad
JEDDAH — The General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) revealed that oil exports in September added up to SR43.5 billion. This is an indication that there is an increase in the oil export by 6.2% compared to September 2015, the GaStat report sent to Saudi Gazette Wednesday showed.
The non-oil exports constituted 10% of the GDP of the second quarter of the year 2016 as opposed to 11.2% during the same period last year.
In a separate report, the GaStat stated that China topped the list of countries that the kingdom exports with a value of SR6693 billion. Japan followed with SR5913 billion, South Korea with SR5106 billion, followed by USA, India, UAE, Singapore, Taiwan, Holland and Bahrain. The total export value for these countries reached SR37709 billion which constitutes 70.6% of the total exports.
Imports from the US added up to SR5273 billion, followed by China with SR4540 billion and UAE at SR1842 billion. Other countries that are on the top of the import list are Germany, Japan, South Korea, India, Italy, France and Brazil. Total importation value is SR20227 billion, which constitutes 65.3% of the total imports.
Total exports in September 2015 added up to SR53423 billion, while imports were valued at SR30953 billion.
Moreover, GaStat said in the report that total exports means local commodity exports (national exports), and foreign commodity exports (re-export). The assessment is based on free on board (FOB). The national exports are export of all commodities which has been produced or manufactured locally or has gone through industrial processes that has changed its shape and value. And re-export concept refers to the exports of formally imported commodities without any obvious amendments. Finally, imports refer to all commodities entering Saud Arabia to meet the local needs after going through customs. Import of services is not included. The assessment is based on the cost, insurance and freight (CIF).
GaStat clarified that the term balance of trade means net exports, which is the difference between exports and imports of the country in certain period of time. This shows if the country has a surplus (exports greater than imports) or a deficit (imports greater than exports) in its foreign trade.
The launch of the two new indicators by GaStat comes within the framework of supporting national development. GaStat announced earlier the launch of more than 45 new statistical products which included economic, social, demographic Umrah, labor market, energy, knowledge, environment, culture, sports, entertainment, and security & safety statistics.
