Saudi Arabia’s total merchandise exports dropped by a hefty 34.9% year-on-year in July due to depleting oil shipments, new data showed Thursday, which also provided a glimpse of the continuing downtrend in exports for the fourth consecutive month this year.
Total exports for July totaled $24.3 billion (SAR 91.3 billion), down from the $37.3 billion (SAR 140.1 billion) registered in the same month last year, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
The decline was once again caused by falling oil exports, which tumbled 37.9% year-on-year, or $11.4 billion (SAR 42.9 billion), to just $18.7 billion (SAR 70.1 billion) in July.
Non-oil exports also continued to drop in July, plunging by 22.1% year-on-year to $5.6 billion (SAR 21.1 billion).
On a monthly basis, Saudi’s total exports in July were marginally down by 0.4%.
Meanwhile, there was a notable 19.7% (year-on-year) and 6.7% (month-on-month) increase in Saudi imports in July, amounting to $18.4 billion.
76.8%. That’s the percentage share of oil shipments in Saudi Arabia’s total merchandise exports in July, down from more than 80% in the same month in 2022. That’s also a reversal of the rise in the share of oil seen in June when it held 81%.
East Asian countries were Saudi’s top export destinations in July, with China accounting for 17.2%, or $4.2 billion (SAR 15.7 billion), of the kingdom’s total exports. It was followed by Japan (11%) and South Korea (10.5), with export shares totaling $2.7 billion (SAR 10.1 billion) and $2.6 billion (SAR 9.6 billion), respectively.
The kingdom imported the most goods from China, which held more than a fifth, or 20.2%, of Saudi’s imports during the month, amounting to $3.7 billion (SAR 13.9 billion). The US and the UAE came in next, accounting for respective 8.7% and 6.2% of Saudi’s total imports.
