Monday 16 / September / 2024
Muscat: Oman’s trade balance at the end of 2015 registered a surplus of OMR2.20 billion despite fall in exports by 34.7 per cent, primarily driven by decline in total value of oil and gas exports.
The value of chemical industries topped the non-oil exports, according to initial statistics bulletin issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). NCSI said that at the end of 2015, the value of non-oil exports stood at OMR3,003.9 million compared to OMR4,125.5 million in 2014, a decline by 27.2 per cent.
Commodity imports
It report said that the merchandise exports registered a decline by 34.7 per cent at OMR13,355.2 million at the end of 2015 compared to OMR20,463.4 million at the end of 2014. The bulletin said that the value of commodity imports at the end of 2015 stood at OMR11,153.3 million compared to OMR11,267.7 million in 2014; a decline by 1 per cent due to the slump in the value of oil and gas exports by 41.9 per cent at the end of 2015 to stand at OMR7,779.7 million compared to OMR13,393.9 million in 2014.
The total value of the Sultanate’s crude oil exports stood at OMR6,642.6 million while the refined oil export stood at OMR182.3 million and the liquefied natural gas exports stood at OMR954.8 million. The chemical industries topped the Sultanate’s non-oil exports at the end of 2015 at OMR7.2 million, compared to OMR9.9 million in 2014, a decline by 26 per cent. The mineral products exports worth OMR572.8 million in 2015 compared to OMR1,256.5 million in 2014, a decline by 54.4 per cent
The value of rubber and elastics exports stood at OMR277.7 million, compared to OMR356.3 million in 2014, a decline by 22.1 per cent.
The value of mineral and mineral works exports stood at OMR650.5 million, compared to OMR765.8 million in 2014, a decline of 15.1 per cent. The value of the other non-oil exports stood at OMR802.8 million, compared to OMR801.1 million in 2014; a growth of 0.2 per cent.
The re-export activity declined by 12.7 per cent to stand at OMR2,571.6 million compared to OMR2,944.1 million at the end of 2014. The export of transport equipment declined by 14.4 per cent to hit OMR1,615.5 million compared to OMR1,886.5 million in 2014.
The re-export of mineral products increased by 9.6 per cent to hit OMR565.5 million, compared to OMR516.1 million in 2014. The value of other activities stood at OMR390.6 million, compared to OMR541.5 in 2014, a decline by 27.9 per cent.
As far as Sultanate’s imported commodities, the mineral products registered the biggest growth by 29.6 per cent at the end of 2015 to hit OMR1,682.7 million, compared to OMR1,297.9 million in 2014.
Transport equipment
Meanwhile, the value of transport equipment declined by 30.8 per cent to stand at OMR1.778 billion, compared to OMR2,568.4 million in 2014. The value of equipment, machinery and electrical equipment imports and their parts grew by 15.4 per cent to touch OMR2,240.7 million in 2015 compared to OM1,942.5 million at the end of 2014.
The value of minerals and their products imports stood at OMR1,256.6 million compared to OMR1,320.7 million in 2014; a decline by 4.9 per cent. The live animals and their products’ imports declined by 4.8 per cent to OMR450.1 million at the end of 2015. The value of chemical industries imports declined by 3.8 per cent to hit OMR955.3 million.
The NCSI also said that UAE topped the list of trade partners for the Sultanate as the value of Oman non-oil exports to UAE at the end of 2015 stood at OMR626.2 million compared to OMR776 million in 2014; a decline by 19.3 per cent.
Saudi Arabia came second as the value of Saudi non-oil imports from the Sultanate stood at OMR375 million, followed by India with OMR274.1 million, China with OMR215.6 million and the US with OMR180 million.
As for the re-export, UAE came first with OMR974.8 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with OMR313.3 million. China came third, after UAE and Saudi, with OMR295.6 million, followed by Iraq with OMR132.1 million and South Africa with OMR116.3 million. In terms of the top exporters to Oman in 2015, UAE came first with OMR4,271 million, followed by Japan with OMR663.3 million, India with OMR625.5 million, China with OMR583.8 million and the US with OMR561.5 million.
