Saudi Arabia Balance of Trade

Last Release

Jan 31, 2025

Actual

24,563

Units In

Million SAR

15,261

Frequency

Quarterly

Next Release

Apr 24, 2025

Time to Release

26 Days 8 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
454,159 Dec 2005	-3,651 Apr 2020	77,768.67 Million SAR	1968-2025	Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency

Saudi Arabia has been recording trade surpluses since 1968 due to shipments of oil (87 percent of total exports). Main imports are: machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment; transport equipment and parts thereof and base metals. Main trading partners are: United States (14 percent of total exports and 12.6 percent of imports), China (12 percent of exports and 13 percent of imports) and Japan (13 percent of exports and 6 percent of imports). Others include: South Korea, United Arab Emirates, India and Germany.

Latest Updates

Saudi Arabia’s trade surplus declined to SAR 24.6 billion in January 2025, down from SAR 27.9 billion in the same month last year, as exports grew more slowly than imports. Exports rose 2.4% year-on-year to an eight-month high of SAR 97.2 billion, despite a 0.4% decline in oil exports, which still accounted for 72.7% of total exports. Meanwhile, non-oil exports increased by 10.7%. China remained the top destination for Saudi exports, representing 15.2% of the total, followed by India (10.9%) and Japan (10.2%). Meanwhile, imports climbed by 8.3% to SAR 72.6 billion, driven by a surge in purchases of machinery, electrical equipment, and parts (27.4%), which constituted 25.9% of total imports, and transportation equipment and parts (10.3%), which represented 13.8% of total imports. Among the major suppliers, China also held the largest share of imports at 26.4%, followed by the US (8.3%) and the UAE (5.5%).