Borneo Bulletin-May 9
Brunei’s total trade in February 2018 increased to BND971.7 million compared to BND922.9 million in February 2017, representing an increase of 5.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y).
Meanwhile, the trade surplus fell by 13.7 per cent year-on-year from BND376.9 million (February 2017) to BND325.3 million.
This was announced in a press statement on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) by the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE), Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.
According to the statement, exports decreased by 0.2 per cent y-o-y to BND648.5 million from BND649.9 million (February 2017). This was mainly due to the fall in crude oil exports by 9.9 per cent y-o-y as a result of a 17.9 per cent y-o-y decrease in the export volume, which was moderated by the increase in the average price of crude oil by 17.6 per cent.
Imports of goods increased by 18.4 per cent y-o-y from BND273.0 million (February 2017) to BND323.2 million (February 2018).
Meanwhile, the main contributors to imports were manufactured goods (33.2 per cent), machinery and transport equipment (32.2 per cent) and food (13.6 per cent).
In February 2018, the biggest export market was Japan with 47.9 per cent of total exports, followed by the Republic of Korea (18.8 per cent), Malaysia (10.8 per cent) and others.
In terms of imports by country of origin, the highest share came from China with 35.3 per cent, followed by Singapore (15.1 per cent), Malaysia (14.5 per cent) and others.
The 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 February 2018 is available from DEPD’s website at www.depd.gov.bn
