The trade balance in January recorded a BND460.2 million surplus, with trade totalling BND2.171 billion, compared to BND2.3342 billion in December 2023, said the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics at the Ministry of Finance and Economy in a statement yesterday.
This was due to by exports valued at BND1.3156 billion and imports at BND855.4 million, it added.
Mineral fuels were the Sultanate’s main export (74.7 per cent), followed by chemicals (21.1 per cent) and machinery and transport equipment (3.3 per cent), while the main export markets were Singapore (23.4 per cent), Australia (18.4 per cent) and China (16.5 per cent).
Meanwhile, the five main imports by commodity were mineral fuels (56 per cent), manufactured goods (17.9 per cent), machinery and transport equipment (9.3 per cent), food (8.1 per cent) and chemicals (3.9 per cent).
The largest import partners were Malaysia (33 per cent) with mineral fuels as the main import commodity, followed by India (13.3 per cent) and China (10.5 per cent).
Meanwhile, imports used as intermediate goods for processing accounted for 62.9 per cent, followed by capital goods (29.1 per cent) for business operations and consumption goods (eight per cent) for household use.
On transport, 94.1 per cent of trade by value was delivered by sea, 4.3 per cent by air and 1.6 per cent by land.
