The trade balance of the Kingdom recorded a surplus of 98,368 billion riyals in the second quarter of 2024, reaching its highest levels during the current year, according to preliminary international trade data issued by the General Authority for statistics, to achieve growth on a quarterly basis by 13.2%, with an increase of 11,495 billion riyals compared to a surplus of 86,873 billion riyals achieved in the first quarter of the same year.

The volume of international trade of the Kingdom amounted to more than 490,657 billion riyals, where commodity exports amounted to 294,512 billion riyals, representing 60% of the total trade volume, while commodity imports amounted to 196,144 billion riyals, and national non-petroleum exports recorded 51,400 billion riyals, accounting for 17.5% of total exports.

Petroleum exports recorded 220,784 billion riyals, accounting for 75% of total exports, while the re-export value amounted to about 22,327 billion riyals, accounting for 7.6% of total exports.

The group of Asian countries other than Arab and Islamic countries topped the groups of exporting countries, accounting for 50.1% of the kingdom's total commodity exports worth 147.622 billion riyals, and the group of European Union countries ranked second as the largest group of exporting countries with 15.6% of total commodity exports worth 46.010 billion riyals, and the group of Cooperation Council for the Arab states of the Gulf came third with 13.3% of total commodity exports, worth 39.198 billion riyals.

In terms of exports by countries, China ranked first as the largest exporter, accounting for 16.2% of the kingdom's total commodity exports, worth 47.588 billion riyals, while South Korea ranked second with 26.408 billion riyals, accounting for 9% of total commodity exports, and Japan came third with 25.950 billion riyals, accounting for 8.8% of total commodity exports.

Non-petroleum exports, including re-exports, passed through 34 different customs ports (sea, land, and air), and their initial value reached SR 73,728 billion, and King Fahd industrial port in Jubail achieved the highest value among all available means of transport and various ports, with a value of SR 11,202 billion, representing 15.2% of the total.
Beth