The value of exports for Brunei Darussalam in November 2019 exceeded BND1 billion for the first time since 2014. This was due to newly exported petroleum and gas products from the downstream activities as one of the main contributors for exports.

Exports rose by 44.5 per cent year-on-year to BND1,113.9 million compared to BND771.1 million in November 2018. This was due to the increase in Mineral Fuels exports by 50.1 per cent year-on-year mainly contributed by petroleum and gas products, which amounted to BND279.2 million. This was also supported by the increase in exports of crude oil by 27.8 per cent following the increase in exports volume from 98.9 thousand barrels per day (November 2018) to 131.3 thousand barrels per day in November 2019. Meanwhile, total imports increased by 81.4 per cent year-on-year to BND973.2 million driven by imports of mineral fuels in line with the downstream activities. As a whole, total trade for November 2019 increased by 59.6 per cent to BND2,087.1 million compared to November 2018.

The five main import commodities were Mineral Fuels (62.2 per cent), followed by Machinery and Transport Equipment (17.1 per cent), Manufactured Goods (8.0 per cent), Food (5.1 per cent), and Miscellaneous Manufactured Articles (3.7 per cent). By End Use category, imports of Intermediate Goods comprised of 58.5 per cent of the total imports followed by Capital Goods (37.5 per cent) and Consumption Goods (4.0 per cent).

The main export market for Brunei Darussalam in November 2019 was Singapore (26.2 per cent) followed by Japan (22.8 per cent) and People’s Republic of China (13.5 per cent). For imports by trading partners, the highest share was from United Arab Emirates (13.9 per cent), followed by Nigeria (9.6 per cent) and Kazakhstan (9.2 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 November 2019 is available from the (Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (DEPS) website at www.deps.gov.bn.