Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s trade balance achieved a surplus of SR27.83 billion in November 2023, bringing the total volume of the Kingdom’s international trade to SR162.128 billion. This was contained in the preliminary data on international trade issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).

The Kingdom’s merchandise exports amounted to SR94.98 billion of the total volume of trade, while merchandise imports amounted to SR67.148 billion. The report showed that the Kingdom’s national non-oil exports accounted for SR17.755 billion in November 2023, constituting 18.7 percent of total exports.

The total value of petroleum exports reached SR72.391 billion, representing 76.2 percent of total exports, while the value of re-exports amounted to about SR4.833 billion, making up 5.1 percent of total exports during November.

In a related development, the group of Asian countries, other than Arab and Islamic countries, topped among the groups of exporting countries during the month of November, accounting for 56.3 percent of the total merchandise exports to the Kingdom, with a value of SR53.433 billion. The group of countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) came second with a total value amounting to SR10.769 billion, representing 11.3 percent of the total exports while the group of European Union countries came third, with a total value of exports amounting to SR10.32 billion, constituting 10.9 percent of the total merchandise exports.

With regard to the country-wise exports, China came in the first place as the largest exporting country, accounting for 17 percent of the Kingdom’s total merchandise exports, with a value of SR16.103 billion in November 2023, while Japan came second, with a value of SR10.453 billion, representing 11 percent of total merchandise exports. India came the third exporting country with a value of SR10.292 billion, representing 10.8 percent of total merchandise exports.

The initial value of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports, including re-exports that crossed through customs of 30 sea, land, and air ports, amounted to SR22.588 billion. King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail achieved the highest value among all available means of transportation and various ports, with a value of SR3.429 billion or 15.2 percent of the total non-oil exports.