Saudi trade balance achieves a surplus of approximately 28 bln riyals in November 2023

Ashraf AboArafe

The Kingdom’s trade balance achieved a surplus of 27,831 billion riyals in November 2023, according to the newly issued preliminary data on international trade issued by the General Authority for Statistics, bringing the volume of the Kingdom’s international trade to a value of 162,128 billion riyals.

  Merchandise exports amounted to 94,980 billion riyals of the total trade volume, while merchandise imports amounted to 67,148 billion riyals, and national non-oil exports recorded a value of about 17,755 billion riyals in November 2023, constituting 18.7% of total exports.

  Petroleum exports also recorded a value of about 72,391 billion riyals, constituting 76.2% of total exports, while the value of re-exports amounted to about 4,833 billion riyals, constituting 5.1% of total exports.

  On a related level, the group of Asian countries other than the Arab and Islamic countries topped the groups of exporting countries in the month of November, accounting for 56.3% of the total merchandise exports to the Kingdom with a value of 53,433 billion riyals, and the group of countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf came second as the group of countries that exported the most. By 11.3% of the total merchandise exports, with a value amounting to 10,769 billion riyals, and the group of European Union countries came third, by 10.9% of the total merchandise exports, with a value amounting to 10,320 billion riyals.

  In terms of the list of exports by country, China came in first place as the largest exporting country, accounting for 17% of the Kingdom’s total merchandise exports, with a value of 16,103 billion riyals in November 2023, while Japan came in second, with a value of 10,453 billion riyals, or 11% of Total merchandise exports, and India came as the third exporting country with a value of 10,292 billion riyals, representing 10.8% of total merchandise exports.

  Non-oil exports, including re-exports, crossed through 30 various customs ports (sea, land, and air), and their initial value amounted to 22,588 billion riyals, and King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail achieved the highest value among all available means of transportation and various ports, with a value of 22,588 billion riyals. 3,429 billion riyals, or 15.2%. Of the total.