By: El Sayed Gamal
Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s trade surplus with Japan, the world’s third largest economy, reached $1.5 billion (SAR 5.63 billion) in November, down from $3.33 billion (SAR 12.49 billion) in the same month a year earlier.
Saudi exports to the Asian country fell to $2 billion (SAR 7.5 billion) in the eleventh month of 2019, compared to $3.68 billion (SAR 13.81 billion) in the corresponding month of 2018, according to recent data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance.
On the other hand, the GCC kingdom’s imports from Japan hiked to $500.17 million (SAR 1.88 billion) last month from $350.02 million (SAR 1.31 billion) in November 2018.
Since February 2011, the state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco has stored crude oil in Okinawa, southwest of mainland Japan, to supply oil to China, Japan, and South Korea, and other countries in East Asia.
In exchange for providing free storage space, Japan is given priority access to reserves in case of an emergency.
Total value of Japanese exports registered $58.27 billion (SAR 218.52 billion) during November, while its imports amounted to $59.02 billion (SAR 221.33 billion).
