TOTAL Trade increased by 11.8 per cent year-on-year to BND932.8 million; consisting of exports (BND613.5 million) and imports (BND319.3 million), compared to BND834.2 million in April 2016. Trade balance increased by 46.1 per cent year-on-year to BND294.2 million from BND201.4 million in April 2016.
According to a press release, exports for the month of April 2017 increased by 18.5 per cent year-on-year from BND517.8 million (April 2016) to BND613.5 million (April 2017). Exports of Mineral fuels recorded the highest contribution of 90.4 per cent of total exports, comprising Crude Oil (BND255.6 million) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) (BND299.2 million).
In April 2017, imports of goods increased by 0.9 per cent year-on-year from BND316.4 million (April 2016) to BND319.3 million. Meanwhile, the top five contributions of imports by commodity were Machinery and Transport Equipment (30.1 per cent), Manufactured Goods (23.8 per cent), Food (15.8 per cent), Miscellaneous Manufactured Articles (9.6 per cent) and Chemicals (6.9 per cent).
The highest exports market was to Japan with 42.6 per cent of total exports, followed by India (14.5 per cent), Thailand (11.7 per cent), Republic of Korea (9.8 per cent) and others.
Imports of Intermediate Goods comprises 59.3 per cent of the total imports. This was followed by imports of Capital Goods (32.0 per cent) and Consumption Goods (8.7 per cent).
The highest imports came from Malaysia with 21.6 per cent of total imports, followed by China (20.2 per cent), Singapore (17.4 per cent), USA (9.5 per cent) and others.
The International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) for Brunei Darussalam adopts the General System for recording trade statistics which cover imports, domestic exports and re-exports. The IMTS full report for April 2017 is available from JPKE’s website at www.depd.gov.bn.