Saudi Arabia’s non-oil trade balance with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recorded a significant surplus during the second quarter of 2024, reaching SAR6.776 billion ($1.81 billion). This represents a remarkable annual growth of approximately 600 percent compared to the same quarter in 2023, when the surplus stood at SAR1.033 billion ($275.2 million), according to preliminary data from the General Authority for Statistics‘ international trade report.
Non-oil exports grow 31 percent
Saudi Arabia’s total non-oil commodity exports, including re-exports, amounted to SAR24.392 billion ($6.50 billion), reflecting an annual growth of 31 percent. This marks an increase of SAR5.765 billion compared to the second quarter of 2023, which recorded SAR18.627 billion in exports. Meanwhile, total commodity imports for the same period amounted to SAR17.616 billion ($4.69 billion).
UAE leads Saudi export destinations
Breaking down Saudi Arabia’s non-oil commodity trade among GCC countries, the UAE led with exports valued at SAR15.070 billion, approximately 61.8 percent of the total.
Bahrain followed in second place with SAR5.792 billion, representing 23.7 percent of the total. Meanwhile, Kuwait ranked third with SAR1.823 billion, making up 7.5 percent of the total. Oman came in fourth with SAR965 million, accounting for 4 percent, and Qatar was fifth with SAR741 million, representing 3 percent of the total.
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Global trade partners
In Q2 2024, Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports to China amounted to 16.2 percent of total exports, making this country the main destination for the Kingdom’s exports. Following China came South Korea with 9 percent of total exports, and Japan with 8.8 percent. India, the UAE, the U.S, Bahrain, Poland, Taiwan and Malta were the other countries that ranked among the top 10 destinations.
Similarly, China held the first position for Saudi Arabia’s imports, constituting 23.1 percent of the total imports in Q2 2024, followed by the U.S. with 8.4 percent of total imports and the UAE with 6 percent of total imports.
India, Germany, Egypt, Switzerland, Italy, Japan and South Korea were among the top 10 countries from which imports were made, with the total value of imports from these ten countries accounting for 63.7 percent of the total imports.
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