Brunei Darussalam’s total trade in March 2021 was valued at 1,685.6 million dollars, an increase by 19 per cent compared to the same period last year.
For month-to-month changes, total trade for March 2021 decreased by 6.2 per cent compared to February 2021. Total exports rose by 9.3 per cent year-on-year due to the increase in Chemicals exports and Mineral Fuels.
The rise in Mineral Fuels exports was largely due to an increase in exports of Crude Oil, mainly attributed to higher average price to 66 US Dollars and 68 cents per barrel for March this year compared to 39 US Dollars and 81 cents per barrel in the same period last year. Meanwhile, exports of Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG declined, in line with the decrease of average exports price to 7 US Dollars and 1 cent per MMBtu in March 2021.
The main exports market in March 2021 was Singapore, followed by the People’s Republic of China and Japan. For imports, the total value rose to 523.3 million dollars in March 2021 compared to March last year, mainly driven by rising imports of Mineral Fuels which are largely used as input for the production of petrochemical products. In addition, the increase in imports was among others due to an increase in imports of Machinery and Transport Equipment, Manufactured Goods, Food and Chemicals.
The five main imports by commodity were Mineral Fuels, followed by Machinery and Transport Equipment, Food, Manufactured Goods, Chemicals and Miscellaneous Manufactured Articles. By End Use Category, imports of Intermediate Goods accounted for 59.1 per cent of the total imports, followed by Capital Goods and Consumption Goods.
For imports by trading partners, the highest share was from Malaysia, followed by Russia and Australia. Imports from Malaysia, Russia and Australia were mostly Mineral Fuels. The International Merchandise Trade Statistics full report for March 2021 is available at ‘www.deps.gov.bn’.
Source: Radio Television Brunei