RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's exports to 70 countries around the world recorded 100 percent increase during the month of June 2021 while compared to the same period in 2020. Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from the statistical figures released on Tuesday by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) that there was an increase of 99.4 percent in the Saudi merchandises exports reaching SR238.6 billion in the second quarter of 2021compared to SR119.7 billion in the second quarter of 2020, when international trade was affected by the lockdown and travel ban due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The increase came as a result of an increase in petroleum exports by SR96.5 billion (126.1 percent). The proportion of petroleum exports out of the total exports rose to 72.5 percent in the second quarter of 2021 as against 63.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020. The GASTAT data showed that Saudi Arabia recorded a trade surplus of about SR97.68 billion in the second quarter of 2021. According to the data, the value of merchandise exports increased by SR26.1 billion (12.3 percent) during the period while compared to the first quarter of this year. The merchandise exports rose in June this year by 91.8 percent, reaching SR84.7 billion as against SR44.2 billion in June 2020. Non-oil exports recorded an increase of 52.1 percent, reaching SR65.7 billion while compared to SR43.2 billion in the second quarter of 2020. The most important commodities were plastics, rubber and their products, which represented 34.3 percent of the total non-oil exports, rising by 63.9 percent, amounting to SR8.8 billion. China topped the main destinations for Saudi exports, with a value of SR 46.4 billion, representing 19.4 percent of the total exports in the second quarter of the current year, and China was followed by India and Japan, with a value of SR21.7 billion (9.1 percent) and SR20.7 billion (8.7 percent) respectively. South Korea, The United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the Netherlands, Singapore and Taiwan were among the top 10 countries to which exports were made, with total exports to these ten countries amounted to SR160.3 billion, representing 67.2 percent of the total exports.
