The Sultanate’s trade balance at the end of 2015 registered a surplus of RO2,201.9 million despite the decline in the exports by 34.7%, which were driven by the declines in the total value of oil and gas exports. The value of chemical industries topped the non-oil exports, according to initial statistics bulletin issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
It said that the merchandise exports registered a decline by 34.7% to stay at RO13,355.2 million at the end of 2015 compared to RO20,463.4 million at the end of 2014.
The bulletin said that the value of commodity imports at the end of 2015 stood at RO11,153.3 million compared to RO11,267.7 million in 2014; a decline by 1% due to the slump in the value of oil and gas exports by 41.9% at the end of 2015 to stand at RO7,779.7 million compared with RO13,393.9 million in 2014.
The total value of the Sultanate’s crude oil exports stood at RO6,642.6 million whilst the refined oil export stood at RO182.3 million and the liquefied natural gas exports stood at RO954.8 million.
NCSI said that at the end of 2015, the value of non-oil exports stood at RO3,003,9 million compared to RO4,125.5 million in 2014, a decline by 27.2%.
The value of chemical industries topped the Sultanate’s non-oil exports at the end of 2015 to RO7.2 million, compared to RO9.9 million in 2014, a decline by 26%.
The mineral products exports worth RO572.8 million in 2015 compared with RO1,256.5 million in 2014, a decline by 54.4%.
The value of rubber and elastics exports stood at RO277.7 million, compared to RO356.3 million in 2014, a decline by 22.1%.
The value of mineral and mineral works exports stood at RO650.5 million, compared to RO765.8 million in 2014, a decline by 15.1%. The value of the other non-oil exports stood at RO802.8 million, compared to RO801.1 million in 2014; a growth by 0.2%.
The re-export activity declined by 12.7% to stand at RO2,571.6 million compared to RO2,944.1 million at the end of 2014.
The export of transport equipment declined by 14.4% to hit RO1,615.5 million compared with RO1,886.5 million in 2014.
The re-export of mineral products increased by 9.6% to hit RO565.5 million, compared with RO516.1 million in 2014.
The value of other activities stood at RO390.6 million, compared with RO541.5 in 2014, a decline by 27.9%.
As for the Sultanate’s imported commodities, the mineral products registered the biggest growth by 29.6% at the end of 2015 to hit RO1,682.7 million, compared with RO1,297.9 million in 2014.
Meanwhile, the value of transport equipment declined by 30.8% to stand at RO1.778 billion, compared with RO2,568.4 million in 2014.
The value of equipment, machinery and electrical equipment imports and their parts grew by 15.4% to hit RO2,240.7 million in 2015 compared to RO1,942.5 million at the end of 2014.
The value of minerals and their products imports stood at RO1,256.6 million compared to 1,320.7 million in 2014; a decline by 4.9%.
The live animals and their products’ imports declined by 4.8% to RO450.1 million at the end of 2015. The value of chemical industries imports declined by 3.8% to hit RO955.3 million.
NCSI also said that UAE topped the list of trade partners for the Sultanate as the value of Oman non-oil exports to UAE at the end of 2015 stood at RO626.2 million compared to RO776 million in 2014; a decline by 19.3%.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came second as the value of Saudi non-oil imports from the Sultanate stood at RO375 million, followed by India with RO274.1 million, China with RO215.6 million and the USA with RO180 million.
As for the re-export, UAE came first with RO974.8 million, followed by the KSA with RO313.3 million.
China came third, after UAE and KSA, with RO295.6 million, followed by Iraq with RO132.1 million and South Africa with RO116.3 million.
In terms of the top exporters to the Sultanate in 2015, UAE came first with RO4,271.0 million, followed by Japan with RO663.3 million, India with RO625.5 million, China with RO583.8 million and the USA with RO561.5 million.