Oman’s trade balance recorded a surplus of RO1.402 billion ($3.648 billion) by the end of September 2017 compared with RO944.3 million ($2.455 billion) during the same period in 2016, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The total value of goods exports of the sultanate by the end of September 2017 was valued at RO9.143 billion ($23.779 billion), that is an increase of 21.8 per cent compared to the same period in 2016, where the total commodity exports of the country was RO7.504 billion ($19.518 billion), said a statement.

The sultanate's imports of goods increased by 18 per cent to reach RO7.740 billion ($20.130 billion) compared with RO6.560 billion ($17.062 billion) during the same period in 2016, it said.

The sultanate's exports of oil and gas valued to be worth RO5.360 billion ($13.940 billion) that is an increase of 28.8 per cent over RO4.162 billion ($10.82 billion) during the same period in 2016.

Among the oil and gas exports, the value of the sultanate's exports of crude oil was worth RO4.269 billion ($11.105 billion) while the value of refined oil exports was valued to be of RO238.8 million ($621.06 million) and the value of the sultanate's exports of liquefied natural gas was RO851.4 million ($2.214 billion).

The statistics showed that non-oil exports increased by 31.4 per cent to reach RO2.364 billion ($6.150 billion) compared with RO1.799 billion ($4.680 billion) during the same period in 2016.

The exports of the mineral products recorded 51.5 per cent increase by the end of September 2017 valued to be worth RO640 million ($1.664 billion) compared with RO422.5 million ($1.098 billion) during the same period in 2016; this is the highest value of non-oil products exports of the sultanate.

This is followed by chemical products with RO610.1 million ($1.586 billion), which is an increase of 41.9 per cent, compared to RO430.1 million ($1.118 billion) during the same period in 2016.

The value of the exports of base metals and articles and its products increased by 35.8 per cent to reach to RO472.9 million ($1.229 billion) similarly, the exports of the plastic and rubber products increased 43.5 per cent to reach to RO149.4 million ($388.5 million).

On the contrary, the exports of the live animals and its products recorded a decrease of 7.6 per cent to reach to RO116.7 million ($303.51 million).

The electrical machinery, equipment and their parts also decreased by 16.7 per cent to reach to RO69.4 million ($180.49 million). Similarly, the value of re-exports from the sultanate decreased by 8 per cent by the end of September 2017 to reach to RO1.418 million ($3.688 billion) compared with RO1.542 billion ($4.011 billion) during the same period in 2016.

Re-exports of transport equipment is decreased by 42.1 per cent to RO443.8 million ($1.154 billion) from RO767.2 million ($1.99 billion) during the same period in 2016. The value of re-exports of mineral products declined by 7.7 per cent to reach RO455.3 million ($1.184 billion) from RO493.3 million ($1.282 billion).

On the contrary, the value of re-exports of the electrical machinery, mechanical equipment and their parts increased by the end of September 2017 by 83.3 per cent to reach to RO180.5 million ($469.4 million) compared with RO98.5 million ($256.17 million) during the same period in 2016.

The re-exports of other products by the end of September 2017 valued to be RO338.8 million ($881.1 million), which is an increase of 84.8 per cent over RO183.3 million ($476.72 million) of the same period in 2016.

As far as the commodities are concerned, the value of sultanate's imports of machineries, equipment's and electrical appliances and their spare parts recorded to be highest by the end of September 2017 with a value of RO1.634 billion ($4.250 billion) which is an increase of 20.8 per cent over the value of the same period in 2016 when it was worth RO1.352 billion ($3.518 billion).

The sultanate's import of transport equipment's was valued by the end of September 2017 to be RO1.317 billion ($3.427 billion) which is an increase of 75.7 per cent over RO750.1 million ($1.950 billion) of the same period of in 2016.

The value of the sultanate's imports of base metals and articles was worth RO1.027 billion ($2.67 billion) by the end of September 2017, which is an increase of 17.9 per cent over RO871.3 million ($2.26 billion) that was at the end of September 2016.

The imports of mineral products decreased by 26.3 per cent by the end of September this year to RO605.2 million ($1.573 billion) from RO820.7 million ($2.134 billion) of the same period last year.

The value of the imports of products by the end of September 2017 was RO562.5 million ($1.462 billion). This import of natural and cultivated pearls as well as precious stones was valued to be RO397.2 million ($1.033 billion) and the imports of and plastic and rubber products was of RO305.9 million ($795.57 million).

The sultanate's imports of live animals and their products increased by 0.3 per cent to reach to RO334.5 million ($869.96 million).

Similarly, the value of imports of prepared food stuffs, beverages increased by 5.5 per cent to reach RO359.8 million ($935.7 million), it stated. – TradeArabia News Service