KUWAIT: Kuwait’s exports were about KD 4 billion in Jan-Mar 2015, a 46.0 percent decrease, and imports were KD 2.3 billion, an 11.1 percent increase, compared to Jan-Mar 2014, according to Central Statistical Bureau. In Jan-Mar 2015, balance of trade was KD 1.7 billion, while it was KD 5.4 billion in Jan-Mar 2014 – a 68.0 percent decrease, the bureau said in a statement to KUNA here the other day.
In the same period, volume of trade decreased 33.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014. Trade volume was KD 6.3 billion in Jan-Mar 2015, while it was KD 9.6 billion in Jan-Mar 2014, it said. Coverage rate was 174.7 percent in Jan-Mar 2015, while it was 359.6 percent in Jan-Mar 2014, it added. In the first quarter of 2015, coverage rate (excluding oil) was 20.4 percent, while it was 22.6 percent in the first quarter of 2014.
For Jan-Mar 2015, the top categories of exports were “mineral fuels and oils” (KD 3.6 billion) with a share of 88.8 percent, followed by “organic chemicals” (KD 102 million) with 2.5 percent, and “vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock and parts and accessories thereof” (KD 62.2 million) at 1.5 percent, it showed. In the same period, “vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, parts thereof” has by far the highest import value at KD 346 million with share of 14.9 percent, followed by “electrical machinery and equipment” (KD 302.5 million) at 13.0 percent, “boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, parts thereof” (KD 285 million KD) at 12.2 percent and “natural or cultured pearls, precious and semi-precious stones” (KD 92 million KD) at 3.9 percent, it noted.
In Jan-Mar 2015, the main partner country for nonoil exports was UAE with KD 68.4 million, followed by China (KD 62.6 million) and Saudi Arabia (KD 53.9 million), it stated. The top country for Kuwait’s imports was China (KD 402.5 million), followed by the United States of America (KD 229.4 million), UAE (KD 200 million) and Japan (KD 153.1 million), it pointed out. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, exports to GCC countries were KD 168.9 million, a 20.3 percent increase, it said, adding the share of the GCC countries was 4.2 percent in Jan-Mar 2015, while it was 1.9 percent in Jan-Mar 2014.
During the same period, 25.7 percent of imported products were industrial supplies. Compared to the same period in the previous year, imports of food and beverages increased by 4.5 percent, industrial supplies increased 9.4 percent, consumer goods increased 9.0 percent and capital goods increased 23 percent, it concluded.
