Saudi Arabia Balance of Trade

Last Release

Feb 28, 2025

Actual

30,567

Units In

Million SAR

24,563

Frequency

Quarterly

Next Release

May 26, 2025

Time to Release

30 Days 5 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
454,159 Dec 2005	-3,651 Apr 2020	77,504.97 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 widened to SAR 30.6 billion in February 2025, up from SAR 29.4 billion in the same month last year. It marked the largest trade surplus since April 2024, as exports fell less than imports. Exports dropped 2.6% yoy to a three-month low of SAR 93.7 billion, due to a 7.9% decline in oil exports, which accounted for 72.1% of total exports. Meanwhile, non-oil exports grew by 14.3%. China remained the top destination for Saudi exports, representing 16.2% of the total, followed by South Korea (10.1%) and the UAE (9.8%). Meanwhile, imports shrank by 5.6% to a 14-month low of SAR 63.2 billion, weighed by a decline in purchases of machinery, electrical equipment, and parts (-0.7%), which constituted 23.5% of total imports. By contrast, transportation equipment and parts imports surged by 24.3%, which represented 15.4% of total imports. Among the major suppliers, China also kept the largest share of imports at 24.1%, followed by the US (7.3%) and India (6.7%).