Brunei’s total trade increases 92.8 per cent in January

• May 19, 2022

In January 2022, Brunei Darussalam’s total trade was valued at BND2,607.8 million, an increase by 92.8 per cent from BND1,352.6 million during the same month last year.

Meanwhile, for month-to-month changes, total trade for January 2022 decreased by 1.2 per cent compared to December 2021.

Total exports increased by 128.9 per cent year-on-year to BND1,487.7 million compared to BND649.9 million in January 2021. This was mainly due to the increase in mineral fuels exports to BND1,072.0 million (January 2022) from BND542.2 million (January 2021). In addition, chemicals exports increased to BND377.9 million in January 2022 from BND81.6 million in January 2021.

The increase in mineral fuels exports was largely due to an increase in the value of exports liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petroleum products from the downstream activities. The increase in exports of LNG was due to an increase in the average price to USD11.27 per MMBtu in January 2022 from USD7.04 per MMBtu in January 2021. Meanwhile, the exports value of petroleum products from downstream activities increased to BND542.5 million from BND145.5 million during the same period, of which the main commodity was automotive
diesel fuels.

In terms of commodity by section, mineral fuels represents the major contributor to Brunei Darussalam’s exports at 72.1 per cent, followed by chemicals (25.4 per cent), and machinery and transport equipment (1.1 per cent).

The main exports market in January 2022 was Japan at 24.7 per cent followed by China (21.8 per cent), Singapore (10.2 per cent) and Vietnam (10.1 per cent). The largest export commodity to Japan was mineral fuels; and chemicals to China.

For imports, the total value increased to BND1,120.1 million (January 2022) from BND702.7 million (January 2021) mainly due to a significant increase in imports of mineral fuels.

The five main imports by commodity were mineral fuels with 73.5 per cent, followed by machinery and transport equipment (9.1 per cent), food (5.7 per cent), manufactured goods (3.6 per cent) and miscellaneous manufactured articles (3.5 per cent).

By end use category, imports of intermediate goods accounted for 59.1 per cent of the total imports, followed by capital goods (36.7 per cent) and consumption goods (4.2 per cent).

According to the mode of transport, in January 2022, the highest share for both exports and imports was transport by sea, which amounted to BND2,470.2 million or 94.7 per cent. This was followed by air transport (BND107.6 million or 4.1 per cent) and via land (BND29.8 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 January 2022 is available at https://deps.mofe.gov.bn.

Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/bruneis-total-trade-increases-92-8-per-cent-in-january/