Brunei records 25.1-per cent trade drop in January

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Xinhua): Brunei recorded 1,352.6 million Brunei dollars (US$1,009.5mil) total trade for January 2021, down 25.1 per cent year-on-year.

The latest International Merchandise Trade Statistics released Wednesday (April 7) by the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics at the Ministry of Finance and Economy showed that Brunei's exports droped 45.7 per cent year-on-year to 649.9 million Brunei dollars, which was mainly due to the decline in mineral fuel exports to 542.2 million Brunei dollars from 1,047.4 million Brunei dollars in January 2020.

Imports increased 15.4 per cent to 702.7 million Brunei dollars compared to 608.8 million Brunei dollars in January 2020.

Mineral fuels recorded the highest contribution of total exports (83.4 per cent) with a value of 542.2 million Brunei dollars.

The highest share of exports in January 2021 went to Japan (38.0 per cent), followed by Singapore (20.8 per cent) and China (13.2 per cent).

The highest share of imports in January 2021 came from the United Arab Emirates (33.7 per cent), followed by Malaysia (24.1 per cent), Singapore (11.0 per cent) and China (10.2 per cent).