Non oil exports/imports fall in Saudi Arabia on reduced trade in petrochemicals

10-Aug-09

Saudi Arabia’s May non-oil exports dropped 23% to 8.02 bln Saudi riyals (US$2.14 bln) yoy, due to reduced trade in petrochemicals triggered by the global economic downturn. Imports in the same month dipped 16% to SAR29.57 bln as compared with SAR35.27 bln in the same period last year. Petrochemicals, plastics and metals were the principal non-oil exports of the Kingdom. Petrochemical sales worth SAR2.26 bln account for about 28% of the kingdom's non-oil exports. Prices of key petrochemicals like ethylene, polypropylene and paraxylene are down about 38% from their peak in August 2008. Petrochemicals are also a major industrial driver in Saudi Arabia because of comparatively lower production costs due to abundant availability of cheap feedstocks.