41% decrease in Kuwait’s exports

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 18: Official statistics issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that Kuwaiti exports amounted to 6.99 billion dinars in the first seven months of 2020 (January-July), indicating a very huge decrease of 41 percent compared to exports of 11.8 billion dinars recorded during the comparative period of 2019. This slump comes with oil prices fluctuating and falling to around $40 a barrel, while the production decreases, according to the OPEC agreement, reports Al-Anba daily.

Kuwait’s exports had witnessed the highest record in terms of value last January with 1.6 billion dinars and reached 1.4 billion dinars last February- just before the spread of the Corona pandemic and the unprecedented  collapse of the crude oil prices in decades, as Kuwaiti exports recorded their lowest monthly value last April with 498.4 million dinars.
At the level of imports, they recorded in the first 7 months of the year about 4.8 billion dinars compared to imports that amounted to 6 billion dinars, representing a decrease of 20 percent, thus the trade exchange recorded 11.8 billion dinars compared to 17.8 billion dinars recorded last year for the same period with a decrease of 34 percent, while the trade balance recorded 2.1 billion dinars (62.7% down) compared to 5.8 billion dinars.

According to the preliminary foreign trade statistics for the month of July 2020, the value of exports amounted to about one billion dinars, recording a decrease of 39.9 percent, while the value of imports reached 682 million dinars- a decrease of 26.3 percent compared to July 2019.

The trade balance achieved a deficit of 322 million dinars in July 2020 and reached 746 million dinars in July 2019, with a decrease of 56.7 percent.

In the same period, the volume of trade exchange decreased by 35.1 percent compared to July 2019, as the volume of trade exchange in July 2020 amounted to 1.6 billion dinars, while the volume of trade exchange reached 2.5 billion dinars in July 2019.

The coverage rate was 110 percent in July 2020 and 180.6 percent in July 2019, while in July 2020 the coverage was 13.5 percent (excluding oil commodities), and in July 2019 it reached 20 percent (excluding oil commodities). 

Mineral fuel

In July 2020, the chapter entitled “Mineral fuels, mineral oils and their products of distillation, bituminous materials and mineral waxes” was issued in the list of the most important exported goods for July 2020, which reached 912 million dinars or 90.8 percent- followed by “organic chemical products” that amounted to 24.8 million dinars, a rate of 2.5 percent, then followed by “car vehicles, tractors, bicycles, other ground vehicles parts and accessories thereof”, reaching 13.1 million dinars or 1.3 percent. 

Machinery and apparatus most important imports

In the same period, “machinery, electrical equipment, machinery and parts, sound recording and broadcasting devices, image and sound recording and broadcasting devices in audiovisual (television), supplies and parts of devices” topped the list of the most important imported goods reaching 78.4 million dinars at a rate of 11.5 percent. It was followed by boilers, machinery, apparatus, machine tools and parts with 64.9 million dinars at a rate of 9.5 percent, then vans, tractors, bicycles and other ground vehicles, parts and accessories worth 55 million dinars constituting 8.1 percent.

Saudi Arabia is in the lead

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came at the forefront of the most important importing countries (except for oil commodities), as the value of imports reached about (18.4 million dinars), followed by the People’s Republic of China (15.9 million dinars), then the United Arab Emirates (12.2 million dinars), and India (8 million dinars).

The People’s Republic of China remained at the forefront of the most important exporting countries, with the value of its export reaching 136.5 million dinars, followed by the United States of America (84.9 million dinars), then the United Arab Emirates (47.6 million dinars), and Saudi Arabia (40.5 million dinars).

Exports to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries reached 42.6 million dinars in July 2020 compared to 50.1 million dinars in July of 2019, representing a decrease of 15 percent, while the share of exports to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries reached 4.2 percent in July 2020 compared to 3 percent in July of 2019.

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