Saudi Arabia Balance of Trade

Last Release

Mar 31, 2025

Actual

19,793

Units In

Million SAR

30,567

Frequency

Quarterly

Next Release

Jun 25, 2025

Time to Release

28 Days 5 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
454,159 Dec 2005	-3,651 Apr 2020	77,184.35 Million SAR	1968-2025	Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency

Saudi Arabia has been recording trade surpluses since 1968 due to shipments of oil (87 percent of total exports). Main imports are: machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment; transport equipment and parts thereof and base metals. Main trading partners are: United States (14 percent of total exports and 12.6 percent of imports), China (12 percent of exports and 13 percent of imports) and Japan (13 percent of exports and 6 percent of imports). Others include: South Korea, United Arab Emirates, India and Germany.

Latest Updates

Saudi Arabia’s trade surplus narrowed sharply to SAR 19.8 billion in March 2025, down from SAR 30.1 billion in the same month last year. It marked the smallest trade surplus since December, as exports plunged while imports edged up. Exports fell 9.8% yoy to a four-month low of SAR 93.8 billion, due to a 16.1% slump in oil exports, which accounted for 71.2% of total exports. Meanwhile, non-oil exports rose by 10.7%. China remained the top destination for Saudi exports, representing 15.5% of the total, followed by India (9.4%) and Japan (8.7%). Meanwhile, imports inched up by 0.1% to SAR 74 billion, boosted by an increase in purchases of machinery, electrical equipment, and parts (3.6%), which constituted 26.1% of total imports. Also, transportation equipment and parts imports rose by 4.4%, which represented 15.2% of total imports. Among the major suppliers, China also held the largest share of imports at 25.3%, followed by the US (7.8%) and the UAE (5.9%).