Saudi Arabia Balance of Trade

Last Release

Dec 31, 2024

Actual

15,261

Units In

Million SAR

16,897

Frequency

Quarterly

Next Release

Mar 27, 2025

Time to Release

28 Days 5 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
454,159 Dec 2005	-3,651 Apr 2020	78,069.27 Million SAR	1968-2024	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 slumped to SAR 15.3 billion in December 2024, down from SAR 34.8 billion in the same month last year, due to a surge in imports. Exports dropped by 2.8% year-on-year to SAR 94.3 billion, mainly due to a 10.0% decline in oil exports, which accounted for 68.8% of total exports. China remained the top destination for Saudi exports, representing 13.0% of the total, followed by South Korea (10.4%) and Japan (10.3%). Meanwhile, imports soared by 27.1% to an eight-year high of SAR 79.0 billion, boosted by a jump in purchases of machinery, electrical equipment & parts (44.0%), which constituted 25.5% of total imports, and transportation equipment & parts (8.4%), which represented 14.8% of total imports. Among the major suppliers, China also held the largest share of imports at 23.5%, followed by the US (9.1%) and the UAE (5.4%). For the full year, the trade surplus narrowed sharply to SAR 275 billion from SAR 424 billion in 2023.