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Brunei’s trade value sees 62.5pc increase
In June, the country’s total trade was valued at BND3,244.1 million, an increase by 62.5 per cent from BND1,995.9 million during the same month last year. Meanwhile, for month-to-month changes, total trade for June increased by 14 per cent compared to May.
Total exports increased by 61.1 per cent to BND1,775.1 million in June 2022 compared to BND1,101.7 million in June 2021. This was mainly due to the increase in mineral fuels exports to BND1,352.0 million (June 2022) from BND865.7 million (June 2021).
In addition, chemicals exports increased to BND378.3 million in June 2022 from BND209.4 million in the same month in 2021.
The increase in mineral duels exports was mainly due to the higher export value of crude oil and petroleum products. The increase in crude oil export was mainly due to the increase in average price by 74.8 per cent to USD129.04 per barrel in June 2022 from USD73.82 per barrel in June 2021.
For the petroleum products export, it recorded an increase to BND845.0 million from BND347.9 million in June 2021, in which the main commodity was automotive diesel fuels.
In terms of commodity, mineral fuels represents the major contributor to the Sultanate’s exports at 76.2 per cent, followed by chemicals (21.3 per cent), and machinery and transport equipment (1.0 per cent).
The main exports market in June 2022 was Malaysia at 30.7 per cent, followed by Australia (14.4 per cent), and Singapore (12.6 per cent). The largest export commodity to Malaysia, Australia and Singapore was mineral fuels.
For imports, the total value increased to BND1,469.0 million (June 2022) from BND894.2 million (June 2021) mainly due to a significant increase in imports of mineral fuels.
The five main imports by commodity were mineral fuels with 78.5 per cent, followed by machinery and transport equipment at 6.9 per cent, food (5.1 per cent), manufactured goods (4.1 per cent) and chemicals (2.4 per cent).
Most of the country’s imports (about 59.3 per cent) are used as intermediate goods for processing followed by capital goods (38.4 per cent) for business operations and consumption goods (2.3 per cent) for household use.
For imports by trading partners, the highest share was from Malaysia at 23.7 per cent, followed by United Arab Emirates (22.9 per cent) and Iraq (10.1 per cent), with mineral fuels as the largest import commodity.
According to the mode of transport, in June 2022, the highest share for both exports and imports was transport by sea, which amounted to BND3,147.2 million or 97.0 per cent.
This was followed by air transport (BND65.5 million or 2.0 per cent) and via land (BND31.4 million or1.0 per cent).
The International Merchandise Trade Statistics report for June 2022 is available on the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics website.
Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/bruneis-trade-value-sees-62-5pc-increase/