Saudi Arabia’s re-exports hit record levels in September, coming in at SR5.6 billion ($1.5 billion), according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics.
That figure is more than double the value for August, where it stood at SR2.7 billion.
The increase helped the Kingdom’s total non-oil exports, an indicator GASTAT usually refers to in its foreign trade reports, rise 38.2 percent year-on-year, hitting SR25.3 billion in September.
Excluding re-exports, national or domestic non-oil exports rose 23.9 percent year-on-year in September, down from 31.1 percent in August.
The September figure is the lowest since February 2021, when growth of 15.6 percent was recorded.
The quarterly numbers show that total non-oil exports, including re-exports, grew 28.4 percent in the third quarter of 2021, compared with the same period last year, due to higher shipments of plastics and chemicals, according to GASTAT.
Sales of plastics, rubber and other related articles surged by 49 percent, while exports of products relating to the chemical or allied industries rose by 38.4 percent.
For 3Q 2021, China was the Kingdom’s top trading partner.
Saudi Arabia exported SR51.7 billion worth of shipments to China, making up 18.7 percent of total exports. Countries that came next were India and Japan, with shares of 9.6 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.
Saudi Arabia’s imports from China were valued at SR30.9 billion in the third quarter of 2021.
This constituted more than a fifth of the Kingdom’s imports.
Imports from the US and the UAE were also relatively large, as they made up 10.3 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.
