- Saudi Arabia’s oil exports dropped by $11 billion in the first three months of 2020, the kingdom’s statistics agency said this week.
- Revenue from oil exports declined by 21.9% year-on-year to $40 billion, slashing total revenue from merchandise exports down 20.7% to $53 billion.
- China, Japan, and India were Saudi Arabia’s top three export partners in the first quarter.
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Saudi Arabia’s revenue from oil exports tanked 21.9% or about $11 billion in the first quarter of 2020, according to official data released by the country’s statistics agency.
The General Authority for Statistics said the sharp decline fueled a 20.7% year-on-year drop in the kingdom’s total revenue from merchandise exports to $53 billion. The drop in exports reflected depressed oil prices last quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic hammered demand for fuel.
Saudi Arabia and Russia also waged an oil-price war for several weeks that only ended in April after OPEC and its allies agreed to cut crude production by 10%. Lower prices contributed to oil exports making up 75.8% of Saudi Arabia’s total exports last quarter, down from 77% a year earlier.
The global downturn didn’t just weigh on Saudi Arabia’s oil exports. Its revenue from non-oil exports, such as plastics and chemicals, fell by 16.5% in the first three months of the year.
Saudi Arabia's main trading partner was China last quarter, as the world's second-largest economy bought about $9 billion worth of its exports. Japan and India were its next two biggest buyers, buying $5.3 billion and $5.2 billion of its exports respectively.
The dramatic decline in Saudi Arabia's oil exports can be seen in the statistics agency's chart below:
