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Saudi Arabia's total exports, including both oil and non-oil exports, fell 25% year-on-year (YoY) in March 2023 to 106 billion royals ($28 billion) from SAR 142 billion.
Oil exports fell by SAR 30 billion, or 26%, in the same period to SAR 83.1 billion from SAR 113.1 billion in March 2022, data released by the General Authority for Statistics on Thursday showed.
The share of oil exports in total exports decreased from 79.6% in March 2022 to 78.3% in March 2023.
Last week, data issued by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed that Saudi crude oil exports edged up 1% in March to 7.52 million barrels per day (bpd) from 7.46 million bpd in February.
Non-oil exports (including re-exports) fell by 21% YoY to SAR 23 billion from SAR 29 billion in March 2022. On a month-on-month basis, however, they rose by SAR 1.5 billion or 7.2%.
Meanwhile, merchandise imports rose by 10% or SAR 5.5 billion in March 2023 to SAR 62 billion versus the year-ago period, giving the country a positive trade balance of SAR 44 billion.
(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
