Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s oil exports fell by SAR 49.2 billion ($13.11 billion) or 17.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, which led to a decrease of 14.4 percent in overall merchandise exports to SAR 297.9 billion from SAR 348 billion in Q4 2022.
The Kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics said the share of oil exports in total exports decreased from 79.3 percent in Q4 2022 to 76.1 percent in Q4 2023. Compared to Q3 2023, total merchandise exports decreased by SAR 2.4 billion or 0.8 percent.
In December, oil exports fell by SAR 13.5 billion or 15.8% to SAR 72 billion from SAR 85.5 billion in December 2022. The share of oil exports in total exports decreased from 78.4 percent in December 2022 to 73.1 percent in December 2023.
However, non-oil exports (including re-exports) decreased by 1.2 percent, compared to Q4 2022, decreasing to SAR 71.1 billion from SAR 71.9 billion in Q4 2022, and non-oil exports (excluding re-exports) decreased by 9.2 percent, whereas re-exports rose by 42.1 percent in the same period.
On the other hand, non-oil exports (including re-exports) increased by SAR 1.9 billion or 2.7 percent compared to Q3 2023.
Merchandise imports increased by 2.8 percent (SAR 5.4 billion) in Q4 2023. The value of imports amounted to SAR 201.4 billion in Q4 2023 compared to SAR 196.0 billion in Q4 2022. Imports also decreased by SAR 1.9 billion or 0.9 percent compared to Q3 2023.
Products of the chemical and allied industries were among the most important non-oil exports, accounting for 31.2 percent of total non-oil exports.
This represented a decrease of 18.3 percent from the same quarter of 2022, amounting to SAR 5 billion.Next in line were plastics, rubber and products thereof (24.3 percent of non-oil merchandise exports) which decreased by 5.2 percent or SAR 1.0 billion from Q4 2022.
The most important imported goods were machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment and parts thereof (23 percent of total merchandise imports), and transport equipment and parts thereof (18.5 percent of total merchandise imports).
The ratio of non-oil exports (including re-exports) to imports in the Q4 2023 decreased to 35.3 percent compared to 36.7 percent in the Q4 2022. This was due to a decrease in non-oil exports, which amounted to (1.2 percent), and an increase in imports, which amounted to (2.8 percent) over that period.
In Q4 2023, exports to China amounted to SAR 50.2 billion (16.9 percent of total exports), making this country the main destination for the Kingdom’s exports.
Japan and India followed next with SAR 33.6 billion (11.3 percent of total exports) and SAR 29.1 billion (9.8 percent of total exports), respectively. South Korea, United Arab Emirates, U.S.A, Bahrain, Poland, Taiwan, and Malaysia were the other countries that ranked in the top 10 destinations.
Exports of the Kingdom to those 10 countries amounted to SAR 203.8 billion, accounting for 68.4 percent of total exports.Imports from China amounted to SAR 44.3 billion (22 percent of total imports) in Q4 2023, making this country the main origin for the Kingdom’s imports. The US and the United Arab Emirates followed next with imports of SAR 19.3 billion (9.6 percent of total imports) and SAR 14.4 billion (7.1 percent of total imports), respectively.
India, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Egypt, Italy and United Kingdom were the other countries that ranked in the top 10 countries for imports. Imports of the Kingdom from those 10 countries amounted to SAR 127.4 billion, accounting for 63.3 percent of total imports.