Brunei Darussalam’s total trade was valued at BND1,330.7 million in July, an increase by 22.1 per cent from BND1,089.8 million during the same month last year, said the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics under the Ministry of Finance and Economy in a statement yesterday.
It added that for month-to-month changes, the total trade increased by 17.5 per cent from June to July.
Meanwhile, “total exports decreased by 24.2 per cent year-on-year to BND508.5 million compared to BND670.8 million in July 2019”, which the agency attributed to “the decline in crude oil exports from BND251.6 million in July 2019 to BND86.5 million in July 2020 and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from BND339.9 million in July 2019 to BND212.6 million in July 2020”.
The decline in exports of crude oil and LNG, the department said, was due to the slow global demand – crude oil, in particular – amid the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a decrease in crude oil and LNG export prices.
“The total export volume of crude oil decreased to 45.73 thousand barrels per day in July 2020 from 86.88 thousand barrels per day in July 2019, while the average export prices of crude oil fell to USD43.96 per barrel in July 2020 from USD68.77 per barrel in July 2019,” it said.
Meanwhile, exports of LNG declined due to a decrease in the average export price to USD5.69 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in July 2020 from USD10.87 per MMBtu in July 2019.
In terms of commodity by section, the department said mineral fuels are major contributors to Brunei Darussalam’s exports at 81.5 per cent, followed by chemicals at 17.4 per cent, miscellaneous manufactured articles at 0.3 per cent, miscellaneous transactions at 0.3 per cent and food at 0.2 per cent.
The main export market in July 2020 was Japan at 22.6 per cent, followed by Singapore at 19.1 per cent and Malaysia at 17.1 per cent.
For imports, the total value increased from BND419 million in July 2019 to BND822.2 million in July 2020.
The five main import commodities were – mineral fuels at 40.1 per cent; machinery and transport equipment at 24.4 per cent; manufactured goods at 12.7 per cent; chemicals at 9.1 per cent; and food at 8.6 per cent.
In the ‘By End Use’ category, imports of intermediate goods accounted for 56.5 per cent of total imports, followed by capital goods at 38.3 per cent and consumption goods at 5.2 per cent.
For imports by trading partners, the department said the highest share was from Malaysia at 20.8 per cent, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 11 per cent and Nigeria at 10.2 per cent.
According to the mode of transport, the highest share was transported by sea, amounting to BND1,212.9 million or 91.1 per cent, followed by air at BND91.6 million or 6.9 per cent and land at BND26.1 million or two per cent.
The International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) for Brunei Darussalam adopts the general system for recording trade statistics, which covers imports, domestic exports and re-exports.
The IMTS full report for July is available at www.deps.gov.bn.
