Brunei: September trade balance at B$204.4 million

• Nov 22, 2017

TOTAL Trade increased by 25.1 per cent year-on-year to BND1,063.8 million; consisting exports (BND634.1 million) and imports (BND429.7 million), compared to BND850.2 million in September 2016. Trade balance decreased by 36.0 per cent year-on-year to BND204.4 million from BND319.6 million in September 2016.

Exports for September 2017 increased by 8.4 per cent year-on-year from BND584.9 million (September 2016) to BND634.1 million (September 2017). Exports of mineral fuels recorded the highest contribution of 94.9 per cent of total exports, comprising crude oil (BND247.5 million) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) (BND353.3 million).

In September 2017, imports of goods increased by 62 per cent year-on-year from BND265.3 million (September 2016) to BND429.7 million. Meanwhile, the top five contributions of imports by commodity were machinery and transport equipment (44.5 per cent), manufactured goods (23.8 per cent), food (10.4 per cent), mineral fuels (8.5 per cent) and chemicals (5.4 per cent).

According to a press release, the highest exports market was to Japan with 29.4 per cent of total exports, followed by Republic of Korea (15.6 per cent), India (14.4 per cent), Malaysia (13.3 per cent) and others.

By end use category, imports of intermediate goods comprised 57.7 per cent of the total imports. This was followed by imports of capital goods (34.8 per cent) and consumption goods (7.5 per cent).

The highest imports came from Germany with 30.0 per cent of total imports, followed by China (19.3 per cent), Singapore (13.9 per cent), Malaysia (12.5 per cent) and others.

The International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) for Brunei Darussalam adopts the General System for recording trade statistics which cover imports, domestic exports and re-exports. The IMTS full report for September 2017 is available from JPKE’s website at www.depd.gov.bn.

Source: http://borneobulletin.com.bn/september-trade-balance-at-b204-4-million/