KSA’s non-oil exports surge driven by chemical and allied industries
Non-oil exports including reexports surged by 13.1% in Q3 to SR78.4bn from SR69.4bn in the same period last year
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports including reexports surged by 13.1 percent in the third quarter to SR78.4 billion ($20.86 billion) from SR69.4 billion in the same period last year, according to a report from the General Authority for Statistics, also known as GASTAT.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the Kingdom’s non-oil exports in the third quarter decreased by SR8.4 billion or 9.6 percent compared to the second quarter of this year.
Overall merchandise exports in the third quarter increased by 46.1 percent to SR399.7 billion, up from SR273.6 billion in the same period last year.
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports were driven by chemical and allied industries which accounted for 36.8 percent of non-oil merchandise exports in the second quarter, GASTAT report stated.
In the third quarter, the Kingdom’s merchandise imports grew to SR181.1 billion, registering a year-on-year increase of 25.1 percent. This is an increase of 4.8 percent when compared with the second quarter of this year.
The products of the chemical and allied industries, which were the central non-oil export goods, rose by 35.1 percent or SR7.5 billion in the second quarter compared to a year before.
The GASAT report further noted that machinery and mechanical appliances were the most important imported merchandise goods last quarter, accounting for 18.7 percent of total merchandise exports.
As imports rose at a faster rate than non-oil exports in the third quarter, the ratio of non-oil exports to imports dropped to 43.3 percent from 47.9 percent a year before.
China remained Saudi Arabia’s primary trading partner, with 16.4 percent of the total exports, while South Korea and Japan followed with 10 percent and 9.9 percent of the Kingdom’s total exports respectively.
As for imports, China attained 20.7 percent, the US stood at 8.8 percent while the UAE followed with 6.8 percent of total imports last quarter.
The majority of imports entered the Kingdom through Jeddah Islamic Port in the third quarter of 2022. The commodities crossed were at a value of SR50 billion, or 27 percent of the whole.