The total trade recorded a year-on-year (y-o-y) decrease of 39.9 per cent to BND1,482.2 million in March 2023 compared to BND2,464.8 million in March 2022. This was due to a decrease in both exports value by 39.7 per cent to BND1,004.2 million from BND1,664.6 million, and imports value by 40.3 per cent to BND478.0 million from BND800.2 million. The decrease in both exports and imports values were mainly due to exports and imports of mineral fuels.
The decrease in mineral fuels exports was mainly driven by the export values of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other petroleum products, particularly automotive diesel fuels. The decline in LNG exports value was due to a fall in exports volume by 13.0 per cent.
However, the decrease in the value of exports was offset by an increase in the exports value of crude oil, due to an increase in the exports volume by 100.7 per cent.
In terms of export commodities, mineral fuels represented the major contributor to Brunei’s exports at 84.8 per cent, followed by chemicals (12.5 per cent), and machinery and transport equipment (1.2 per cent).
The five main imports by commodity for March 2023 were chemicals (44.3 per cent), followed by machinery and transport equipment (20.0 per cent), food (13.2 per cent), manufactured goods (9.1 per cent), and miscellaneous manufactured articles (8.1 per cent).
The main export markets in March 2023 were Singapore (18.8 per cent), followed by Japan (18.7 per cent), and Australia (12.1 per cent). The largest export commodity to Singapore, Japan and Australia was mineral fuels.
The biggest import partner were Belgium (33.5 per cent), followed by Malaysia (18.8 per cent) and Singapore (10.8 per cent), with chemicals as the largest import commodity.
Some 55.9 per cent of imports were used as intermediate goods for processing, followed by capital goods (36.0 per cent) for business operations and consumption goods (8.1 per cent) for household use.
Meanwhile, 69.0 per cent of trade by value was delivered through sea transport. This was followed by air transport by 15.6 per cent and via land by 15.4 per cent.
In terms of month-on-month changes, compared to February 2023, total trade fell by 32.3 per cent due to the fall in export value by 22.7 per cent and import value by 46.4 per cent.
