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Brunei: Total trade increases by 7.2pc in May 2019 year-on-year

  • Aug 29, 2019

Brunei Darussalam’s total trade in May 2019 increased to BND1,290.7 million compared to BND1,204 million in May 2018, representing an increase of 7.2 per cent year-on-year, according to the International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS).

The Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE), Ministry of Finance and Economy, in a press release, shared that total exports decreased by 0.6 per cent year-on-year to BND718.1 million (May 2019) from BND722 million (May 2018). This is mainly attributed to a fall in the export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Exports of LNG dropped by 13.3 per cent with in line with lower LNG price from USD9.9 per MMBtuin (May 2018) to USD8.2 per MMBtuin (May 2019).

Meanwhile, the exports of Crude Oil rose by 8.8 per cent.

The press release also noted that total imports increased by 18.9 per cent year-on-year to BND572.6 million. The five main import commodities were Mineral Fuels (35.2 per cent), followed by Machinery and Transport Equipment (23.2 per cent), Manufactured Goods (12.7 per cent), Food (10.2 per cent) and Chemicals (9.8 per cent).

In the End-Use category, imports of Intermediate Goods comprised 61.7 per cent of the total imports, followed by Capital goods (31.4 per cent) and Consumption Goods (6.9 per cent).

It was shared that in May 2019, the main export market for Brunei Darussalam was Japan with 27.8 per cent, followed by India (17.2 per cent) and Republic of Korea (10.9 per cent).

For imports by trading partners, the highest share came from Equatorial Guinea with 19.2 per cent, followed by People’s Republic of China (14.5 per cent) and Singapore (12.6 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 May2019 is available on JPKE’s website at www.depd.gov.bn.

Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/total-trade-increases-7-2pc-may-2019-year-year/