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IMTS shows 98.3pc increase in Brunei’s total trade
In September 2021, Brunei Darussalam’s total trade was valued at BND2,346.1 million, an increase by 98.3 per cent from BND1,183.1 million during the same month last year. Meanwhile, for month-to-month changes, total trade for September 2021 increased by 5.3 per cent compared to August 2021.
Total exports increased by 127.1 per cent year-on-year to BND1,356.8 million compared to BND597.4 million in September 2020. This was mainly due to the increase in mineral fuels exports to BND1,053.7 million (September 2021) from BND438.7 million (September 2020), and chemicals exports to BND265.4 million (September 2021) from BND142.6 million (September 2020).
The increase in mineral fuels exports was largely due to an increase in the value of exports of crude oil, exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and exports of petroleum products from the downstream activities. The increase in exports of crude oil was attributed to an increase in average price to USD76.69 per barrel (September 2021) from USD42.85 per barrel (September 2020) and an increase in total volume to 86.56 thousand barrels per day (September 2021) from 64.88 thousand barrels per day (September 2020).
Furthermore, the increase in the exports of LNG was due to an increase in the average price to USD11.42 per MMBtu (September 2021) from USD4.56 per MMBtu (September 2020). Meanwhile, the exports value of petroleum products from downstream activities increased to BND491.1 million from BND155.3 million, which the main commodity was automotive diesel fuels.
In terms of commodity by section, mineral fuels were the major contributor to the country’s exports (77.7 per cent), followed by chemicals (19.6 per cent), and machinery and transport equipment (1.0 per cent).
The main exports market in September 2021 was China (25.7 per cent) followed by Australia (19.8 per cent) and Japan (18.8 per cent). The largest export commodity to China was chemicals followed by mineral fuels. Meanwhile, largest export to Australia and Japan was mineral fuels.
For imports, the total value increased to BND989.3 million (September 2021) from BND585.7 million (September 2020) was mainly driven by an increase in imports of mineral fuels which are largely used as input for the production of petrochemical products.
The five main imports by commodity were mineral fuels (64.9 per cent), followed by chemicals (11.0 per cent), machinery and transport equipment (10.6 per cent), food (5.4 per cent) and manufactured goods (4.1 per cent).
By End Use Category, imports of Intermediate Goods accounted for 58.7 per cent of the total imports, followed by Capital Goods (37.2 per cent) and Consumption Goods (4.2 per cent).
For imports by trading partners, the highest share was from Malaysia (28.6 per cent), followed by Norway (13.2 per cent), and Russia (10.7 per cent), with Mineral Fuels as the largest import commodity.
According to the mode of transport, in September 2021, the highest share was transport by sea, which amounted to BND2,239.5 million (95.5 per cent). This was followed by air transport (BND80.4 million or 3.4 per cent) and via land (BND26.2 million or 1.1 per cent).
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 September 2021 is available from the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics’ website.
Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/imts-shows-98-3pc-increase-in-bruneis-total-trade/