Saudi Arabia Balance of Trade

Last Release

Feb 29, 2024

Actual

31,900

Units In

Million SAR

28,229

Frequency

Quarterly

Next Release

May 30, 2024

Time to Release

1 Months 3 Days 12 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
454,159 Dec 2005	-3,651 Apr 2020	81,196.86 Million SAR	1968-2024	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 to SAR 31.9 billion in February 2024 from SAR 40.8 billion in the same period a year earlier. Year-on-year, imports rose 12.3% to SAR 63.1 billion, mainly driven by a sharp increase in purchases of machinery, electrical equipment & parts (14.6%). Among main suppliers, China held the largest share in shipments, constituting 19.9%, followed by the US (8%), and India (7%). Meanwhile, exports fell 2% to SAR 95 billion, weighed by lower sales of oil products (-3.8% to SAR 73.2 billion), accounting for 77% of total exports. Conversely, non-oil exports went up 4.4% to SAR 21.9 billion, chiefly boosted by increased sales of plastics and rubbers (8.3%). As for the major destinations, China also accounted for the highest portion of exports at 13.2%, along with India (9.9%) and Japan (9%).