PHOTO
Saudi Arabia's total merchandise exports, including both oil and non-oil, fell 23% year-on-year (YoY) in August 2023 to 102.4 billion riyals ($27.3 billion) dragged by lower oil exports.
However, on a month-on-month (MoM) basis total exports increased by SAR 10.4 billion or 11.3%, data released by the General Authority for Statistics on Wednesday showed.
Oil exports from the world’s largest crude oil exporter fell by SAR 28.9 billion, or 27%, in the same period to SAR 77.9 billion from SAR 106.8 billion in August 2022.
Saudi Arabia has voluntarily reduced its oil output by 1 million barrels per day (bpd), to 8.98 million bpd, and the cuts are to be rolled over until the year-end. Data issued by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) earlier this month said that Saudi crude oil exports fell in August to 5.58 million barrels per day (bpd), down 428,000 bpd MoM to a 28-month low.
The share of oil exports in total exports fell to 76.1% in August 2023 from 79.9% in the year-ago month.
Non-oil exports (including re-exports) decreased by 8.6% YoY to SAR 24.5 billion.
Meanwhile, merchandise imports fell 3.6% or SAR 2.3 billion in August this year to SAR 61.5 billion giving the country a positive trade balance of SAR 40 billion; up from SAR 22 million in the previous month.
(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
