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Brunei: Downstream activities boost December 2019 trade
Brunei Darussalam recorded the highest total trade since December 2012 after it recorded a value of BND2,571.3 million, an increase by 86.3 per cent from BND1,380.0 million during the same month last year. This takes into account exports of petroleum and gas products as an outcome of downstream activities. Meanwhile, for month-to-month changes, total trade for December 2019 increased by 23.2 per cent compared to November 2019.
Exports rose by 69.4 per cent year-on-year to BND1,390.8 million compared to BND820.9 million in December 2018. This was due to the increase in mineral fuels exports by 72.3 per cent year-on-year mainly contributed by the exports of petroleum and gas products and Crude Oil. The increase for petroleum and gas products exports is driven by downstream activities while Crude Oil is due to higher exports volume and average price.
The main export market for Brunei Darussalam in December 2019 was Singapore (30.8 per cent) followed by Japan (25.4 per cent) and People’s Republic of China (11.6 per cent).
In terms of commodity exports, Mineral Fuels represents the major contributor with 94.1 per cent followed by Chemicals (4.5 per cent) and Machinery and Transport Equipment (1.0 per cent).
Meanwhile, total imports increased by 111.1 per cent year-on-year to BND1,180.5 million driven by imports of mineral fuels in line with the
downstream activities.
The five main import commodities were Mineral Fuels (61.2 per cent), followed by Machinery and Transport Equipment (18.2 per cent), Manufactured Goods (9.3 per cent), Chemicals (4.4 per cent), and Food (3.5 per cent).
By End Use category, imports of Intermediate Goods comprised 57.6 per cent of the total imports followed by Capital Goods (38.9 per cent) and Consumption Goods (3.5 per cent).
For imports by trading partners, the highest share was from Nigeria (25.1 per cent), followed by People’s Republic of China (9.3 per cent) and Angola (8.9 per cent).
On an annual basis for the year 2019, total trade marked an increase by 16.2 per cent to BND16,843.2 million compared to BND14,494.1 million in the year 2018. Meanwhile, exports increased by 11.4 per cent to BND9,886.3 million from BND8,871.8 in the previous year while imports increased by 23.7 to BND6,956.9 million from BND5,622 million.
The International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) for Brunei Darussalam adopts the General System for recording trade statistics, which covers imports, domestic exports, and re-exports. The IMTS full report for December 2019 is available at www.deps.gov.bn.
Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/downstream-activities-boost-december-2019-trade/