KUWAIT: Kuwait’s exports hit KD 3.5 billion in the second quarter of 2016, down 25.8 percent compared to April-June 2015, according to the country’s Central Administration of Statistics (CAS). In the same period, volume of trade decreased 17.6 percent compared to the second quarter of 2015. Volume of trade was KD 5.9 billion in April-June 2016, while it was KD 7.1 billion in April-June 2015, it said in a press statement to KUNA.
Coverage rate was 150.8 percent in April-June 2016, while it was 200.6 percent in April-June 2015. In the second quarter of 2016, coverage rate (excluding oil) was 15.6 percent, while it was 20.1 percent in the second quarter of 2015, it added. For April-June 2016, the top categories for exports were mineral fuels and oils (KD 3.1 billion) with a share of 89.7 percent, organic chemicals (KD 77.9 million) at 2.2 percent and plastics and articles thereof (KD 60 million) at 1.7 percent.
In the same period, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances and parts thereof had by far the highest value of imports (KD 327.4 million) with share of 13.9 percent, followed by vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock and parts thereof (KD 279.3 million) at 11.8 percent, electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles” (KD 272 million) at 11.5 percent, and articles of iron and steel (KD 135.6 million) at 5.7 percent, it said.
In April-June 2016, the main partner country for non-oil exports was India (KD 62.5 million), followed by Saudi Arabia (KD 52.6 million), UAE (KD 48.1 million) and China (KD 37.2 million). The top country for Kuwait’s imports was China (KD 361.1 million), followed by United States of America (KD 217.2 million), UAE (KD 215.6 million) and Germany (KD 160.5 million), it noted.
Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, exports to GCC countries totaled KD 133 million from KD 157.7 million, a decrease of 15.6 percent. The share of the GCC countries was 3.7 percent in April-June 2016, while it was 3.3 percent in April-June 2015. During the same period, 28 percent of imported products were industrial supplies. Compared to the same period of the previous year, industrial supplies increased 15.6 percent and capital goods increased by 12.2 percent, while food and beverages decreased by 12.7 percent, it added.
