GCC Total Merchandise Foreign Trade Value, in 2020, Decreased

Statistical Center of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced the most important statistical indicators, related to the merchandise foreign trade of the GCC member states for the Year 2020, based on the data that the center regularly prepared, in collaboration with the national statistical centers and agencies, in the member states.

The merchandise foreign trade movement (not including intra-GCC) for the Year 2020 witnessed a decrease, in its total value, reaching about $840.7 billion compared to $1,071.0 trillion, in the Year 2019, a decrease of 21.5%.

On the level of the member states’ contribution to the GCC, the statistical data showed that nearly three quarters of the merchandise foreign trade volume of the GCC states was contributed by the Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The total merchandise exports of the GCC countries amounted to $438.5 billion, during the Year 2020, a decrease of 28.4% compared to the Year 2019.

Value of re-exported goods amounted to $79.6 billion, during the Year 2020, a decrease of 24.5% compared to the Year 2019, while the total merchandise imports decreased by 12.4% compared to the Year 2019 to stand at $402.2 billion, during the Year 2020.

The surplus of the GCC merchandise trade balance decreased by 76.2% to reach $36.4 billion, in 2020, compared to $153.2 billion, in 2019.

The commodity composition of the most prominent exported and imported commodities: Oil and its products accounted for 70.3% of the value of merchandise exports of national origin, amounting to about $252.2 billion, during the Year 2020, compared to $404.6 billion for the Year 2019, with a decrease rate of 37.7% from the previous year, followed by gold and precious stones by 8.2%, then plastics and its products 6.3%, organic chemical products 3.3%, aluminum and its products 2.8%, and fertilizers 1.0%.

At the level of re-exports, machinery and electrical appliances accounted for 25.2% of the value of re-exported goods, in the Year 2020, reaching about $20.0 billion during the Year 2020, compared to $20.8 billion for the Year 2019, with a decrease of 3.8%, followed by gold and precious stones by 17.7 then machinery and mechanical equipment, at 13.7%, cars, vehicles and their parts at 10.7%, oil and its products 5.0%, and aircraft and their parts 3.4%.

Machinery and automated equipment accounted for 13.6% of the value of the total commodity imports of the GCC, in the Year 2020, approximately $54.7 billion, with a decrease of 6.6% during the Year 2020 compared to 2019, followed by machines and electrical appliances by 13.3%, then gold and precious stones at 13.2%, cars, vehicles and their parts at 9.1%, and pharmaceutical products at

3.2%.

At the level of trading partners for total merchandise exports: China ranked first among the most important trading partners of the GCC, in terms of total merchandise exports, as it accounted for 19.0% of the total merchandise exports of the GCC to the global markets, in 2020, where the value of total exports reached commodities to China amounted to about $83.1 billion, in 2020, compared to $106.3 billion, in 2019, a decrease of 21.8%.

India ranked second with 12.2%, followed by South Korea with 8.0%, Japan with 6.4%, Singapore with 4.1%, and the United States with 4.0%, as these countries constitute the largest importers of crude oil and natural gas from the GCC member states.

At the level of trading partners, in commodity imports: China also ranked first among the most important trading partner of the GCC member states, in the total merchandise imports for the Year 2020, as it constituted 20.0% of the value of the total merchandise imports of the GCC countries from the global markets, for the Year 2020, and the value of Imports from China are about $80.4 billion for the Year 2020, compared to $83.7 billion, in 2019, recording a decrease of 3.9%.

The United States came in second place with a rate of 10.0%, followed by India 6.9%, Japan as well as Germany 4.7% apiece, and Italy 3.2%, of the value of the total merchandise imports of the GCC member states from global markets.