Saudi Arabia Balance of Trade

Last Release

Apr 30, 2025

Actual

14,170

Units In

Million SAR

19,793

Frequency

Quarterly

Next Release

Jul 24, 2025

Time to Release

27 Days 7 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
454,159 Dec 2005	-3,651 Apr 2020	76,836.21 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 14.2 billion in April 2025, down from SAR 37.0 billion in the same month last year. It marked the smallest trade surplus since December, as exports slumped while imports surged. Exports plunged 10.9% yoy to a seven-month low of SAR 90.3 billion, due to a 21.2% slump in oil exports, which accounted for 68.6% of total exports. Meanwhile, non-oil exports jumped by 24.6%. China remained the top destination for Saudi exports, representing 12.6% of the total, followed by Japan (10.1%) and the UAE (9.8%). Meanwhile, imports jumped by 18.3% to SAR 76.1 billion, boosted by a surge in purchases of machinery, electrical equipment, and parts (25.4%), which constituted 27.7% of total imports. Also, transportation equipment and parts imports soared by 64.5%, which represented 17.2% of total imports. Among the major suppliers, China also held the largest share of imports at 25.0%, followed by the US (7.5%) and the UAE (6.8%).